tomato juice

various dates

I cannot imagine growing the multitudes of tomatoes I have without also making tomato juice once in a while. Cherry and grape tomatoes seem to be the juiciest, have very little pulp.

This is not something I do very often with store-bought tomatoes. Those are too expensive to make any reasonable quantities of this.

a. tomato juice with celery salt

various dates

I always add salt on snack tomatoes. Tomato juice seems to do better with celery salt.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need:

tomatoes, preferably cherry/grape
celery salt

optional:

hot sauce or powdered hot peppers

Pic1: tomato juice with celery salt

Directions

I have used 2 different methods to make tomato juice: an electric tomato strainer and boiling.
A similar result can be obtained with a hand-cranked food mill and strainer.

2014-05-18

Pic2-4: electric tomato strainer

An electric tomato strainer separates the seeds and peels from the pulp and juice. This is pretty efficient. The pulp is quite dry.
On the other hand, the strainer needs to be taken apart to remove the dry stuff every few minutes. I found that so annoying that I gave up on this after only a few sessions and started boiling the tomatoes instead.

2014-09-03

Pic5: wash
Pic5: boil
Pic7: sterilize

Cherry and grape tomatoes have very little pulp, and the skins are so soft that they break up during boiling.
This leaves pure tomato juice with very few seeds, no further treatment needed.
With larger tomatoes, a food mill can remove the seeds and tougher skins.
Sterilize tomato juice for long-term storage.
Tomatoes can be processed in water bath, but for most (sweet ) tomatoes, adding extra acid is recommended for food safety reasons. I usually pressure-canned my tomatoes,

b. tomato smoothie with celery

2019-12-04

I prepared this with the insides that I scooped out of the shrimp-stuffed tomatoes. You can of course also use whole tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are especially good for this.

If you want it to look deeper red, add some ketchup or tomato paste.
If you want juice only, pour it through a strainer or juicer to remove the solids.

INGREDIENTS

This is what you need for 2 servings:

the insides of 3 large beefsteak tomatoes, scooped out
OR: use whole tomatoes
1 cup celery, chopped small
S&P
soy / Worcestershire sauce

Pic8: tomato & celery smoothie

Directions

Combine tomato and celery in a blender cup.
Optional: add a few ice cubes to chill the smoothie.
Add S&P to taste, a splash of soy or Worcestershire sauce.
Pulse a few times to get started.
Run the blender for a few minutes until you get a very smooth mixture.
Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Pic9: load the blender
Pic10: blended
Pic11: served

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more and avemariasongs.org

See also: Deming, NM gardens, animals and more
and avemariasongs.org