How to make tomato juice

Video: How to Make Simple Tomato Juice from Fresh Tomatoes | RadaCutlery.com

Content

Part 2 of 3: Juice from tomato paste
Part 3 of 3: Canning Tomato Juice
Tips
Warnings
What do you need

1 Choose ripe, juicy tomatoes. The best juice is obtained from ripe varietal tomatoes. If the cut fruit has a great smell and texture, the juice will be delicious too.If you don't have your own vegetable garden, choose tomatoes for juicing at a farmers' market or local vegetable store during the peak of the harvest.

Organically grown tomatoes are more suitable for juice than those grown with pesticides. You don't want to taste the chemicals in your juice.
You can choose one variety or combine several varieties of tomatoes. Early varieties produce more juice; from plum tomatoes, the juice is thicker.

2 Wash the tomatoes. Rinse the tomatoes in running water and pat dry with either a kitchen towel or paper towel. A simple rinse of the tomatoes will be enough to remove dirt and bacteria from them.

3 Core and cut the tomatoes into quarters. First, cut the tomatoes in half. Remove the core and any hard pieces from the pulp, then cut the halves in half again.

4 Place the chopped tomatoes in a non-acidic pot. Use a steel or enamelled saucepan, not aluminum, as aluminum is likely to react with the acid in tomatoes, which can ruin their color and even taste.

5 Squeeze the juice out of the tomatoes. Use a mashed potato pusher or wooden spoon to crush the tomatoes and squeeze the juice out. The saucepan should contain a mixture of tomato juice and pulp. The saucepan now has enough liquid to bring it to a boil.

If you think the mixture is too dry, add a little water so that there is enough liquid in the pot to boil.

6 Bring the contents of the saucepan to a boil. Stir the juice and pulp regularly to prevent them from burning. Continue cooking the tomatoes until the mixture is soft and runny. This process should take 25 to 30 minutes.

7 Add seasonings if desired. Add a pinch of sugar, salt, or other spices if you want to enrich the tomato flavor. The sweetness of the sugar will help reduce the acidity of the tomatoes.

If you are unsure of how much sugar, salt and pepper to add, start with a small amount. Spoon the tomatoes before removing the pan from heat and add more if necessary.

8 Remove the tomatoes from the stove and let cool for a few minutes. Do not refrigerate them to room temperature, but allow them to cool enough to reduce the possibility of accidental burns.

9 Separate the juice from the pulp. Place a colander or strainer over a large bowl. If you are using a colander, choose the model with small holes. Use a plastic or glass bowl, as the metal bowl can react with the acid in the tomato juice. Gradually strain the cooled tomato puree through a colander. Most of the tomato juice will naturally drain into the bowl.

Shake the colander from time to time to free the holes and allow the juice to drain freely into the bowl. Use a silicone spatula to scrub the tomatoes through a sieve. Rubbing the tomato puree will loosen the remaining juice from the pulp.
Discard any remaining pulp from the sieve. These leftovers no longer have any culinary value.

10 Cover the juice and chill in the refrigerator. Refrigerate the juice for at least 30 minutes before serving, shake well before serving. Tomato juice in a hermetically sealed container can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Part 2 of 3: Juice from tomato paste

1 Open a can (180 ml) of canned tomato paste. Choose a paste that contains as few additional ingredients as possible. You can take a large (360 ml) can of tomato paste to make more juice, but you will also need to double the amount of water.
2 Spoon the canned tomato paste into a medium pitcher. Choose a jug with a lid and a hermetically sealed spout, if possible. If you are making juice from a large (360 ml) jar, use a larger jug as well.
3 Fill the tomato paste jar with water 4 times. Pour the water into a pitcher of tomato paste. You can also use a measuring glass, but to maintain the proportions, it is enough to measure out the water with a pasta jar.
4 Stir the tomato paste and water well until smooth. If you can, use a hand mixer to mix the ingredients thoroughly.
5 Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Stir the ingredients or beat with a blender until completely dissolved. If the tomato paste already contains salt, do not add it to the juice.
6 Store the juice in the refrigerator until serving. Do not store the juice for more than one week: pour it out after this period.

Part 3 of 3: Canning Tomato Juice

1 Prepare the necessary equipment. To preserve tomato juice, you will need one-liter jars with rubber bands and new lids, and an autoclave to sterile the jars. It's a good idea to have a pair of tongs on hand for removing cans from the autoclave when they are hot enough.
- Keep in mind that it is not recommended to preserve tomato juice without an autoclave. Tomato juice needs to be heated to a high temperature to kill all bacteria, and to ensure that the juice can be drunk after opening the cans.
- You can use a boiling water autoclave, or a pressure autoclave.
2 Sterilize the jars. You can either boil the jars for 5 minutes each, or put them in the dishwasher. Place the finished jars on a towel and get ready to refill them.
3 Prepare tomato juice from fresh tomatoes. If you've already gotten into juice canning, it's best to juice it with fresh tomatoes, not tomato paste. Prepare enough juice to fill one or several liter jars, keep in mind that the juice in the jar should not reach the neck by about 1.5-2 cm.
4 Strain the juice to separate the pulp, rind and seeds.
5 Boil the juice for 10 minutes. Do this after you have mashed the tomato puree and removed the pulp. Boiling will kill bacteria in preparation for canning. At this point, you can (optionally) add one of the following preservatives to the juice:
- Lemon juice or vinegar. The acid they contain helps to preserve tomato juice. Add 1 teaspoon to the jar.
- Salt. Salt is also a preservative, and if you want to use it, add 1 teaspoon of salt to each can. Keep in mind that the salt will enhance the flavor of the juice.
6 Pour the juice into jars. The juice should not reach the neck of the can by about 1.5–2 cm. Place the lids on the cans and roll them up.
7 Autoclave the jars and heat them up. Follow the instructions for your autoclave. The standard sterilization time for a workpiece is 25–35 minutes. When the process is complete, take out the cans, put them in a cool place and leave them alone for 24 hours.
8 Store tomato juice cans in a cool, dry place.

Tips

If you don't like the taste of pure tomato juice, or you want to make the drink healthier, you can add vegetables and make tomato and vegetable juice. Chopped celery, carrots, and onions are especially good for this drink. If you prefer spicier drinks, you can add some hot sauce to the juice.
Experiment with different varieties of tomatoes. Larger tomatoes have a meatier flavor, while plum and cherry tomatoes are sweeter. You should put less sugar in the juice from small sweet tomatoes.

Warnings

Try to use tomato paste for juicing, which was sold in packaging made without bisphenol A. Bisphenol A reacts with the acid contained in tomatoes, and harmful substances pass into the paste. Glass jars are BPA-free, so glass jar tomato paste will be the safest.