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.
I love to just drink plain old water….As do my pets and all of my beautiful houseplants..
I love cool water with cucumber slices or borage, or a nice iced tea. Iced coffee and I also get along famously. I would love a good filter and having one that’s recyclable would eliminate a lot of my guilt!
I like mine in a tall glass full of crushed ice. I crave icewater like some people crave chocolate.
Being 66 I have to drink a lot of water daily to keep skin and body hydrated so I have been drinking bottled water with a either a squirt of lemon or lime in it. It really gives the water a wonder flavor otherwise I don’t think I could drink a total of four bottles a day I need. And I think my canning last summer turned out better since using bottled water.
I drink the vast majority of my water as iced tea. You can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t make her stop drinking iced tea!
I just love to drink water. My kids do too. No soda drinkers in this house. The exception is ginger ale(with cane sugar) with a tummy ache. Otherwise it is filtered water, and no ice. We barely drink juice unless it is watered down half strength. Water is best for quenching thirst and making me feel more full when drunk before a meal. Therefore I eat less when I drink more water. And ever since visiting China in the early 80s, I do not take clean running water for granted. I don’t know about conditions now, but back then you had to boil all water before drinking. I nearly kissed my kitchen faucet when I got back home to Portland!
I also like it with a bit of lemon served from my 4 year old daughter and her younger cousins ” lemonade stand” that they set up regularly!
Filtered water for everything (live in a pre-war building)- many homemade soups,teas and even for face!Stainless steel kleen kanteen for the road. Sun tea in jars.Grapefruit or lemon squeezed in not too cold water. Tulsi tea. Cheers!:)
I don’t drink much water unless it has been processed as COFFEE. I might drink more water if it was purified in a Mavea pitcher.
My favorite way to drink water…..with a bit of crushed ice next to a glass of a well aged Cabernet Sauvignon. 🙂
Lately, I’ve been using filtered water to make tea. I also made some killer ginger syrup this weekend. I’ve been adding that to my tea and it is extra tasty.
I certainly need to drink more water. I have a couple of reusable bottles that I carry with me at work, but I never can seem to remember to drink enough while I’m at home.
Room temperature and straight up! No ice, no lemon, no nothing. OK, a glass to drink it out might be needed. Just water.
I like to drink water in my coffee travel mug, since it keeps it cold, and seals up great when I am on the go.
I am planning on entering the world of preserving this year, so I will take your advise on filtered water!
I like my water with burbon and a twist. AND: Filtered water for coffee, tea and homemade root beer.
In my battle-scarred BPA free bottle! Occasionally, I’ll add a drop or two of liquid stevia to it for flavoring, but usually its simply sweet ol’ well water for me.
In a big glass with chunks of ice, or hot, as in a hot rum toddy. 🙂
Where can I get one? I use a Brita and would LOVE something that did the same thing with no BPA and was recyclable!
I love to drink my water slightly slushy after putting a reusable Brita water container I got at Sundance Film Festival last year in the freezer for about an hour.
I LOVE drinking water which I drink a ton of everyday, not only does it cleanse our system it refreshes as well. I have two favorite ways of drinking water the first is to have it chilled with a bit of lemon and honey. The other is to drink water which
is super cold with a bit of fresh mint leaves which gives a wonderfully cool and refreshing feeling to each sip, which is especially nice on a hot day.
Red! Love water with a bit of lemon or ginger 🙂 Yum!
Since I live without running water and have to haul all of my water in five gallon jugs, every glass of water and mug of tea tastes precious.
I love my britta! This looks super neat though- and i like COLD water from the fridge!
Very cold and if I’m feeling fancy i’ll throw in a cucumber slice or two
I have always been a big fan of water all my life.I like it plain, cold, room temperature, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’m one of those type of people who always has a bottle with me where ever I go. I get irritated when I go some place and don’t have access to just some plain old water. I don’t drink bottled water very often, usually just tap water ran through my Brita. I like that you said this pitcher has a meter because I never remember to change my brita filter when I am supposed to. Definitely going to check this out.
I always get super thirsty when I am in the kitchen baking. Lately I have been thinking about getting a filter, but I wonder if it would really work since we have super hard water that killed my coffee maker. I would love to find out though. Maybe I could filter the water first and then put it in the coffee maker.
I’ll take any color. I drink water from the Bopple bottle, it has a filter in it that will handle 300 refills.
I chug it down on my way to work from a reusabe bottle or my travel mug, so it is almost like coffee (without the caffeine! :)During the day from a cooler…but my favorite is to let it sit in the fridge with an apple cinnamon tea bag, then pour it over ice… yum yum!
Oh for me it’s got to be sweet tea! I love the stuff. I don’t make mine AS sweet as my southern relatives, but still, it’s best as cold as it can be and with good fresh filtered water and ice cubes! Sun tea is even better… with a dash of fresh lemon slices!!
Most of the time I drink my water straight from the tap. I don’t buy bottled water very often. When I do, it’s Penta water..b ut that’s a ” treat” 🙂 🙂 Otherwise, it’s tap water all the way 🙂
We drink crazy amounts of decaf and herbal tea in our house. I probably drink 4-5 cups a day at least!
I’m such a boring plain water girl. I used to like it ice cold and now I’m fine with just the cold filtered out of our fridge. I agree on filtering your water for canning. We have really hard water and it all gets filtered before we use it. We even filter the water for our homemade pectin!
Mmm…a steaming cup of proper English black tea, a splash of milk, and two sugars if you please. A hot scone just makes it all that much better!
i love my hot water with lemon and my cold water infused with cucumber peels. and i love the simple reminder to use good water, that is certainly a detail i haven’t thought to attend to.
Straight from the tap, in a reusable bottle usually.
i like my water either straight up (filtered of course), or in the form of earl grey tea. 🙂
I’m a big sweet tea drinker, with TONS of ice; also ICE COLD water with slices of orange and a squeeze of fresh OJ in it.
I love water as icy cold as possible. Even in -28 degree weather. I put ice in it or freeze some in partially filled bottles to refill all day.
My favorite way to drink water is from a glass in the evening. I currently use a large Brita filter.
Coolish room temperature, no ice!
Also: in BEER!
(yes, I’m a Portlander through-and-through)
Two favorite ways to consume my H2O…straight
From my filter pitcher in a mason jar. Or filtered
Water turned into strong coffee in my French press.
Yumm.
I like room temp water, I usually bring it to school or work in a mason jar! Sometimes I add a little fresh fruit or cucumbers to flavor things up a bit!
I use an insulated Kleen Kanteen — they are the best! I love putting fresh mint from my mint pot into the ice & water 🙂 We use a filter on the side of the sink — makes it easy to use the filtered water in cooking.
Even though tea purists don’t like them, I love our hot water pot. It’s wonderful being able to get a cup of hot tea (with filtered water) at a moment’s notice.
out of a mug from the tap. never really worried about participates till now.
I use filtered water all the time. My little girl takes a smaller reused bottle in her lunchbox every day to school. Our drinking water is now usually filtered through the refrigerator’s built-in filter, but my wife and I have owned several Brita containers over the years. This article just got me thinking I should be using one of those filters at work. I’ve stopped drinking water at work because of how unpleasant the taste is. I could have been using one of my own filters that is sitting unused at home.
Thanks for the reminder to use filtered water in recipes. I’m careful about the other ingredients, so why not the water? As long as we don’t all turn into molecular gastronomists, it makes sense. (I like to enjoy my food with as few steps as possible separating it from the garden or field of its origin.)
Oops, forgot to say that we used the Brita Water filter from out of the tap. Dont like water bottles. WE use the brita water in the coffee maker and the reusable cups we use all day long.
Water made bubbly by my Soda Stream is my favorite of course! 🙂
I drink it straight or in barley tea for the most part from the fridge, or heat it up to make some yummy hot oolong tea.
I drink my water room temp mostly. But in the summer I LOVE it with ice.