Canning Orange Juice

[ChickenPotPie]

A very kind lady has invited me and my children to pick mandarin oranges in her orchard tomorrow. Since we'll have a load of them, I'd like to can them. She suggested juicing them for canning.

Has anyone done this before? I believe it's pretty straight forward - wash, peel, juice, bring to boil, pour into hot, sterilized jars, and water bath can for 5 - 10 minutes.

I'm mainly concerned with the juice tasting cooked or not very fresh because of the heating it on the stove. What do you think? Does it turn out tasting fresh? Or should I just freeze it? I'd rather not do that since I have more room on my shelves than in my freezer.

Thoughts? How has your OJ or other citrus juice turned out when you've canned it?

 

[tortoise]

A former member of this board says canned orange juice turns out terribly bitter. I would freezer rather than can, just to be safe.

 

[mrs.puff]

yeah, canned juice just isn't very tasty. You would be better off to juice them, then freeze it. Mandarin orange pops anyone?

(How lucky for you! Most of us can only dream of having access to fresh citrus).

 

[ORChick]

I haven't canned the juice, but I did can some mandarin orange segments a month or so ago. I haven't opened a jar yet, but they look good. Sorry, don't have the recipe anymore, but I can look for it, if you like.

 

[ChickenPotPie]

I haven't canned the juice, but I did can some mandarin orange segments a month or so ago. I haven't opened a jar yet, but they look good. Sorry, don't have the recipe anymore, but I can look for it, if you like.

I was thinking of canning the segments but it seems like it would be sooo much work to get all the membranes of those teeny tiny pieces. Did you think it was real labor intensive?

 

[ORChick]

I did think it was a little fiddly, but I didn't have a lot to do. Some types are easier to peel than others; you might try a few of your *gifted* mandarins, and see which catagory they fall into. I bought a box at Christmas, and canned up those that weren't eaten fresh - came to just over 3 pints, and we had the "just over" for dessert that evening. I actually combined 2 recipes - the first one for technique, and the second for particulars. We really liked the result, but I can well imagine that the vermouth is not to everyone's taste, especially children. Using the spices in a sugar syrup would also be very nice, and not quite so *different*.

http://www.recipelink.com/mf/20/4206

http://nami-nami.blogspot.com/2011/01/clementines-in-star-anise-and-cinnamon.html

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Thank you for those links. I have a question now. Do you not have to take off the membrane after you take the peel off?! I pictured me having to peel, separate segments, and then painstakingly pick and peel off the membranes off each segments.

Store bought mandarin organges don't have membranes on them so I thought I had to take it off. However, the photo in the second link shows them just peeled and that's it.

So, can anyone answer that? When canning citrus, do you peel and then take off all the membrane or no?

 

[JRmom]

I canned 8 quarts of tangerine segments earlier in the winter. It was tedious peeling and getting the membranes off - and tangerines are easy compared to other citrus. But the membranes are very bitter so I would suggest taking the time to remove them.

I canned half with cinnamon and nutmeg in the syrup - delicious! I use the plain ones in my cole slaw.

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Mmmm, that sounds good. Thank you for answering.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

You can lactoferment orange slices