Purchasing an iced tea concentrate can be hard on your pocketbook. Moreover, you have no say as to what goes into the mix, making it difficult to find an iced tea concentrate if you have special dietary needs. By making and canning your own concentrate, you can create iced tea tailored to the level of sweetness you like, using any variety of tea you desire, without the extra chemicals you may find in store-purchased concentrates. Making your own iced tea concentrate is as easy as boiling water.
Step 1
Wash and sterilize the glass canning jars, bands and lids. You can sterilize the glass jars in boiling water, but sterilize the bands and lids in simmering water.
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Step 2
Boil 10 cups of water in the stockpot.
Step 3
Place 20 bags of tea into the water. Steep the tea for up to 15 minutes.
Step 4
Remove the tea bags from the pot and add the sugar and lemon.
Step 5
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Step 6
Carefully pour the concentrate into the sterile jars and secure the lids and bands.
Step 7
Place the filled jars into a boiling water canner, cover the pot with water and boil for 15 minutes.
Step 8
Remove the jars from the canner using tongs and allow them to cool.
Step 9
Pour three to four parts of water for every part of iced tea concentrate, depending on how sweet you want the beverage, when preparing the iced tea. For example, if you use 1 cup of the concentrate, you will need 3 to 4 cups of water.
Step 10
Refrigerate opened jars of the ice tea concentrate you canned for up to three weeks. The unopened cans do not need refrigeration.
Tip
You can increase or reduce the amount of sugar in the concentrate to your liking.
Mix the ice tea concentrate with concentrated, fruit-flavored syrups to create flavored teas. Follow the serving instructions on the bottle, keeping in mind that a ¼ cup of the concentrate can make up to 1.25 cups of prepared iced tea.
Things You'll Need
10 pint-sized glass canning jars
10 cups of water
Large stockpot
20 tea bags
5 cups sugar, optional
2 tbsp. of lemon juice, optional
Boiling water canner
Canning tongs
Warning
Do not steep the tea for more than 15 minutes, particularly with black teas, or the concentrate will taste bitter.
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