Can You Can Lemon Juice

As a high acid fruit, lemons are perfect for canning. Lemon juice finds its way into all manner of canning recipes in small amounts to make them safe for water bath canning, but people rarely talk about canning lemons themselves. It’s easy to can lemons as juice, jam or whole sections for use all year long.

How long does canned lemon juice last?

As long as the bottle is unopened, the juice will be fine for over a year. Once the bottle is opened, its contents should be fine for at least half a year. Some manufacturers add only a tiny bit of preservatives to their product, so it’ll last only a couple of days without going bad: a week, maybe two weeks at most.

What does lemon juice do when canning?

The optimal pH for gelatinization is between 2.8 and 3.5. The best way to achieve this level of acidity is to use commercially bottled lemon juice. A second reason for using bottled lemon juice in jam recipes is to prevent the growth of bacteria and insure safe canning.