Making and Canning Sweet Tea Concentrate

Disclaimer: This is not an FDA approved recipe.

My husband travels here and there with his work. So my canned items come in handy, including this sweet tea concentrate. He loves his sweet tea, so I was beyond giddy when I figured this out. He can now have sweet tea without all the hassle of heating up the camper.

This is really easy, so let’s get started.

I fill up a large pot with water and put in 10 tea bags. You may need to adjust according to your pot size. You need this to be concentrated, so just keep that in mind. Add in your tea bags and turn on high. Bring your tea to a boil, once it is boiling turn it down and let it simmer. I let it simmer for a good 30-45 minutes. Now shut off the tea and let it cool a bit.

Get out your clean quart jars and put 1.5 cups of sugar in each quart jar. Again this can be adjusted according to your preference. We live in the South, and we like our tea sweet!!

Fill your jar half full with the tea concentrate and stir well. You don’t have to get the sugar completely dissolved, just do your best with that. When you water bath it, it will dissolve. Fill the jar the rest of the way leaving a 1 in head space.

Place your jars into the water bath canner and cover with water. Be sure you have 2 inches of water covering the lids. Bring the water to a rolling boil and start your timer for 10 minutes.

When 10 minutes is up, remove carefully with jar lifters and set on a towel. You should hear them “pop” and seal. Leave them alone for 24 hours and than check the seals. If they all sealed they are good to go!

When you are ready to use take a quart out and add it to a gallon jug, than fill the rest up with water and ice.

You adjust this for your taste. We like strong tea, so be sure to test it out before canning.

Now go enjoy a nice glass of sweet tea!

Tips

You can add lemon juice to help with acidity and/or flavor.