Using filtered water, like that you can get from a Mavea water filter, improves and taste and experience of your jams, pickles, and jellies.
As many of you have come to know, water is often a primary player in canning. Most pickling recipes call to dilute vinegar by half. We can whole fruit by making a syrup of sugar and water. When I want to include an intense flavor (like ginger) in a preserve, I blend it with some water before squeezing it through some cheesecloth to get a potent little brew.
In all of these recipes, I make a point of using filtered water. Preparing fruits and vegetables for canning is often a process of cooking down and concentrating your ingredients. I really don’t want to concentrate any extra crud or crap in my finished product. I live in an older apartment building, so who knows what kinds of funky particulate matter is in the H2O that comes out of my tap? It’s just one of those steps I like to take to ensure that the quality of my product is as good as I can make it when I go to open those jars six or eight months later.
Edited to add: There’s been a little confusion in the comments. I don’t use filtered water in my processing pot. I only use it IN the canning recipes. Regular tap water is fine for the outside of the jars.
For most of my adult life, I’ve been a Brita water filter user. Recently, I had an opportunity to try the new Elemaris filter and I really like it. It’s made by Mavea (which is part of Brita), is entirely BPA-free and the filters are recyclable. It has a meter on top that tells you when the filter is due for a refill and the lid is designed so that you can simply position it under the tap and fill, no need to remove a piece or flip open a flap. They’ve even created a nifty blog called Inspired Water to help spread the word about this product.
Disclosure: Mavea gave me that black Mavea water filter you see above. I’ve also filmed a series of canning videos with them that will be appearing in the next few weeks. No money has changed hands and I wouldn’t say nice things about their pitcher if I’d didn’t genuinely like it.
In the winter – room temp with a squirt of lemon. In the summer – cool in a stainless steel water bottle.
It’s got to be homemade lemonade, extra tart!
Cold, plain water, frequently from a water bottle that lives on my desk. Doesn’t need anything else!
Would LOVE to get this
I like my water cold. COLD!!! With lots of ice cubes – especially ones made of fruit juice. Yum! 🙂
I love to drink water very cold in a glass glass with a squirt of lime juice.
I add ginger and honey to hot water and refill the mug with more hot water throughout the day.
I drink water with meals and add only one or two ice cubes.
Hot water with lemon and honey gets me through the winter.
I drink water in the form of suntea which I make every day using loose tea leaves.
I love water with a twist of lemon, hot, cold, room temp, just water.
I like to use filtered water to make almond milk. Delicious.
I drink it super cold and from a glass, right out of the refrigerator!
Just plain ol’ water. Ice on a hot day, without in the winter.
Best way for water? Oh coffee coffee coffee
Definitely with a squeeze of lemon!
I like it plain, sometimes with ice, sometimes not.
I use my filtered water in making soda with my sodastream!
I love really cold water (no ice) with lemon slices. I would love to win this! Our water could use a filter.
Love my water cold with a slice of lemon, would love a new pitcher!
Dale
I like my water carbonated with a hint of sweet syrup (lately, I’ve been adding the syrup from the cranberry sauce I canned in the fall).
With lots of crushed ice and lemon slices.
I have a well-used Brita pitcher from the 1990s that I drink from all day and I have a glass by my bed at night. Hydration is awesome!
I like plain old water, but very, very cold.
I have a terrible habit of drinking my water straight out of my (incredibly old) tap. But there’s something incredibly refreshing about a quick, cold drink of water!
My favorite way to drink water is ice cold in big gulps…so refreshing!
My favorite way to drink water is straight from the tap in my stainless steel water bottle! No need to worry about water quality here in Oregon!
Wow! Lotta water drinkers out here. 🙂
Always room temp, often with lemon. We have a water filter built in under our sink so that it comes out of a tap up top. A huge convenience. But I have a little office behind our house and I could really use a pitcher like this up there. Thanks!
Very cold with a squeeze of lemon!
I love to drink hot water. At first it was a substitute for tea (after I’d already had enough caffeine for the day but was still craving something warm and comforting), but it’s actually quite delicious and I sometimes prefer hot water to tea. My teeth are sometimes sensitive to cold water, so it’s always at least room temperature. I’m lucky to live in Portland where our tap water is pretty great, but a water filter would help with the problem of older pipes in our building!
just plain ice water .
My favorite way to drink water is out of my refillable plastic bottle (32oz.), pretty much all day long.
We keep a brita pitcher in the fridge, and I fill my stainless steel waterbottle from it.
When I wake up in the morning I heat up some filtered water and pour it over 2oz of organic apple juice then I add the juice of one lemon. It feels clean and fresh!
I should really drink more water, when I do drink water its 2/3 OJ+ 1/3 water. Maybe this pitcher would clean my tapwater enough to I could actually drink it. (I’m making the preserved lemons right now btw!!)
I’m using a Brita pitcher now, and this one sounds so much easier to use. I drink water straight up, room temperature!
From a glass with a stem. It can be tap water but I like it from a glass with a stem and no ice. No ice and a glass with a stem. That’s it.
My favorite way to drink water is straight from a San Pallegrino bottle.
I like water cold, in a nice big glass. It’s actually just about the only thing I ever drink.
My favorite way to drink water is out of a metal bottle while swimming at the gym!
We’ve got an old Brita that’s covered in hard water stains (our water comes from wells, pumped up through granite, so there are lots of minerals :). A new pitcher would be fantastic.
I have been filtering my water since the first water filters hit the market, I don’t fill up the landfill with all the plastic water bottles that are available and carry my own reusable container with me. Also I am lucky enough to be near a natural spring that has been tapped out in the country. Using the natural spring water has made an incredible difference in my pickling, crispy and keep there natural color.
straight up filtered. try to avoid bottled water at all costs.
I drink lots of Iced Tea made with Brita water. Would love to upgrade! Thanks for the opportunity. Love your blog!
I like my water just chilled in the fridge. Nothing in it unless I’m some place that does that yummy crunchy ice bits. Then it’s all about the ice!
Cold water (no ice) from the fridge with a wedge of lemon sqeezed in it. Preferably comsumed while standing out in the warm sunshine looking at my gardens 🙂
Love to drink water first thing in the morning. On hot days an ice cube or two is nice. And during our frigid winters, warm water or maybe tea is what I crave.
Straight, thank you. (Though brewed into tea or coffee is good, too, and if it wants to sparkle, that’s okay with me!)
Straight up! If it’s hot, I’ll add ice. 🙂
My favorite way to drink water is unsweet iced tea! Although, I love plain water!