Tomato Juice (Pure)

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?SFCQC 10 August 2011 Tomato Juice
Many tomatoes in the garden so they are converted into tomato juice. After experimenting the method is well established.

Wash tomatoes, cut into quarters, cook on very low heat until soft, use only a glass of water to start the boiling process. Beat into a mash using the portable blender, strain through a small mesh to separate seeds and fiber from juice. The first fiber is put through a juicer to extract more nutrients. The juice is then placed in jars and pressure canned at 12 PSI for 20 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. The juice is probably as pure as can be made,and without any additives.

[SouthernDave]

Sound great! Two questions: One, pressure canning with a jar -proabaly something lost in translation here, is it jarred or canned and how do you do this? Second, how many tomatoes equate to how much juice roughly?

[Durgan]

Pressure canning is simply processing the produce in the jars. All that transpires is the temperature is raised to about 140 or 150 C to kill all bacteria. I usually do 12 PSI for 25 minutes. The canning can be accomplished with water, but all one can obtain is 100 C, which is fine for acidic produce, but iffy for that which is not acidic. I can process six jars at one time with my presto canner. It is simple and quick.

About two to three liters of raw tomatoes makes a liter of juice. I suppose a better measurement is by weight, but one usually doesn't have an appropriate scale handy.

Two aims are accomplished. One knows what is in the finished product, and it is a convenient method of utilizing fresh abundant produce for off season use.