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Tomato Juice

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Anyone like mater juice? Its some wonderful stuff especially this time of year. It goes great with beer or vodka or just by itself. This is how I make some good juice that I think you all will like

To make your own tomato juice you obviously need some tomatoes, a wonderful little invention known as a juice extractor, canning salt, jars with rings and flats, a few jalepenos or Bhut Jolokias or whatever pepper you like, 2 onions and a handful of either basil, rosemary or sage and a few hours to make. I can make a 9 quart batch in about 2-3 hours.

Now since I am a gardener I raise my own tomatoes but you can get tomatoes from local Farmer's Markets this time of the year to make your own juice. I had 53 plants this year so I have alot of tomatoes and will juice up a 5 gallon bucket at a time which will make 9 quarts. This can be scaled down to smaller batches and even used to fill pint jars instead of quarts.

To start out I quarter the tomatoes and remove any rotten places and the green core. After they are quartered I run them thru the juice extractor and put the juice in a tall metal pot. The peels that go out the other side of the extractor can then be run thru a collander to extract even more juice.

For my larger batches I will also cut up 3-5 jalepenos or other hot peppers and place in a blender with just a little water and blend until all is liquified. I then get 2 onions and herbs and do the same. The peppers and herbs are optional but it does give the juice a little kick. I place all of this in the juice I just extracted.

I will then place the pot with the juice on the stove and bring to a hard boil for about 10 minutes. You will need to stir in order to keep it from boiling over. Prepare the jars and put about 1.5 teaspoons of canning salt in each jar. Oh and dont forget to put the lid flats in another pan of water and bring that pan to a gentle boil.

I will then use a cup and pour the juice in the jars and place the flat and ring on the jar and turn it upside down. Later you will hear the lids pop which is it sealing. Let the juice cool off for a day or two and enjoy
 
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mmmm bloody mary's

I have 18 Tomato plants 5 are doing really well 3 not so good and the other 10 I only planted seed a few days ago.
 
I had 5 maters growing in my greenhouse but i didnt have enuff heat so they got zapped by the super frigid weather we have now. I'll get better heater and try again.
 
I'm having a problem with too much heat at the moment. Yesterday it was 23c outside 40c in the greenhouse.
Today it's meant to get to 35c. I've got shade cloth over the greenhouse and I've been dampening the floor
I have mist sprayed the whole inside a couple times today and I've Managed to get it down to around 25c
in there now.
 
franzb69 said:
I've always felt when the components are made from scratch that food is always better.
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Yeah there's no comparison. I'm gonna try some new things in my mater juice next year. My goal is to make the best juice this side of the Miss River lolol :D

Seriously though, that little recipe in this thread makes some very good juice. I am telling all my friends that I am almost out. If I dont they will be over trying to drink it all LOL
 
Do you test the pH of your juice? Tomatoes are generally on the border of being acidic enough to hot-pack safely, and there are a lot of low acid tomatoes out there. Some recipes add lemon juice to acidify a bit more or if you're not sure you could always pressure can it.
I just want people reading this to be aware of proper safety and canning procedures and not try to copy this with just any tomatoes.
 
POTAWIE said:
Do you test the pH of your juice? Tomatoes are generally on the border of being acidic enough to hot-pack safely, and there are a lot of low acid tomatoes out there. Some recipes add lemon juice to acidify a bit more or if you're not sure you could always pressure can it.
I just want people reading this to be aware of proper safety and canning procedures and not try to copy this with just any tomatoes.
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I only grwo the higher acidic maters. I really dont care much for the sweeter lower acid types. People around here have been making juice this way long before you or I was on earth
 
BrianS said:
People around here have been making juice this way long before you or I was on earth
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Sorry but I always hate that argument. People may have made it that way long ago but it doesn't mean it was always safe, although tomatoes back then were generally more acidic. These days we know a lot more about bacteria and safe processing tecniques and IMO we'd be foolish to ignore this information. I'm not saying your product is unsafe but there is a reason why every modern canning book recommends a certain pH and people wanting to copy recipes should test all their home-canned products and know the recommended tecniques. I'm sure you don't want your recipe to make someone sick so you're better off providing the appropriate warnings
 
POTAWIE said:
Sorry but I always hate that argument. People may have made it that way long ago but it doesn't mean it was always safe, although tomatoes back then were generally more acidic. These days we know a lot more about bacteria and safe processing tecniques and IMO we'd be foolish to ignore this information. I'm not saying your product is unsafe but there is a reason why every modern canning book recommends a certain pH and people wanting to copy recipes should test all their home-canned products and know the recommended tecniques. I'm sure you don't want your recipe to make someone sick so you're better off providing the appropriate warnings
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All I'm saying is that is aint killed nobody yet :lol:
Back when our Grannys used to can stuff they didnt know Ph from hole in the ground. In saying that I do understand what you are saying and where you are coming from. I am still I guess you can say "old school" in that I just copy old hand me down ways of doing things but if I was to do something different I would be more cautious I am certain.

Cheers,

B
 
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