Tomato Juice

[Lindalana]

We started with chunky juice, just tomatoes, no additives, using blender and hubby migrated to using quality juicer after while. It comes out beautifully, smooth, thick enough but pouring well. No nothing added, very tasty. Hubby took to a local party yesterday, was a great hit.
I can in water bath for 15 minutes, heated but not boiling juice to store. Taste change insignificant. My pH on tomatoes was never above 4.1, any batch, mixed tomatoes.

[Zenbaas]

First time making tomato juice and canning with my pressure canner. Was a good but tiring experience. Hardest part was realising I need a food mill to make separating the skins and seeds out much easier.

Ive had a few "ping" initially but not much since. Will have a look in the morning after they have completely cooled down.
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[Fiishergurl]

Zenbaas.... so cool! Looks delicious!

Ginny

[Fiishergurl]

Originally Posted by Lindalana

We started with chunky juice, just tomatoes, no additives, using blender and hubby migrated to using quality juicer after while. It comes out beautifully, smooth, thick enough but pouring well. No nothing added, very tasty. Hubby took to a local party yesterday, was a great hit.
I can in water bath for 15 minutes, heated but not boiling juice to store. Taste change insignificant. My pH on tomatoes was never above 4.1, any batch, mixed tomatoes.

How do you check the PH?

Ginny

[Worth1]

They look fantastic.
My experience is the wide mouth lids dont ping as loud as the regular mouth lids.
I have two new cases of jars in the truck and some in the house.
As the temperature changes they ping.
This scares the devil out of me sometimes.

Worth

[ContainerTed]

Looking good. Tell us how much you reduced the liquid. This July and August, you're gonna be happy to drink a summer tomato (if there's any left).

Even if there is stratification from jars sitting for a while, and you have some clear liquid on the top, simply "shake well before using". Than clear liquid tastes the same as the red/pink stuff.

Like worth and I agree on. It's like drinking a summer heirloom tomato.

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Looking good. Tell us how much you reduced the liquid. This July and August, you're gonna be happy to drink a summer tomato (if there's any left).

Even if there is stratification from jars sitting for a while, and you have some clear liquid on the top, simply "shake well before using". Than clear liquid tastes the same as the red/pink stuff.

Like worth and I agree on. It's like drinking a summer heirloom tomato.

Ted funny enough I was thinking about you while reducing the liquid. I think I reduced by at least a 1/3 until it reached a consistency I liked. After I finish this batch I'll reevaluate if I want it thicker or not. I don't think this will last me a month. I tend to have them at night with some mature cheddar cheese normally.

Sometimes I'll add some paprika and Worcestershire sauce as well

[Worth1]

I like celery salt in mine and the reason I go low sodium.

Worth

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I like celery salt in mine and the reason I go low sodium.

Worth

True Worth we also use celery salt for certain things. I'll try and add some to the juice (if necessary) and see how much the taste profile changes.

That said I'm no fan of celery..! I normally don't handle the taste all that well.

[Worth1]

I never could get used to putting any kind of alcohol in tomato juice.
I have tried to and to me it is horrible.
If you want to try something crazy put about 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of it mix it up and wait a bit.
Then drink it.
It kills the acid and makes it sweet.
This is what I do with store bought tomato products that have been over dosed with citric acid for so called safety reasons.

Worth.

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I never could get used to putting any kind of alcohol in tomato juice.
I have tried to and to me it is horrible.
If you want to try something crazy put about 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of it mix it up and wait a bit.
Then drink it.
It kills the acid and makes it sweet.
This is what I do with store bought tomato products that have been over dosed with citric acid for so called safety reasons.

Worth.

You bring up a very interesting point worth. When I was briefly tasting in between canning today I noticed how "sweet" it tasted. I have been very much conditioned to the overly acidic taste which I now actually like. I guess I'll have the experiment with the next batch to see how much of a difference it makes if I add slightly more to different bottles.

On the alcohol point I completely agree. Interestingly the first time I ever tried tomato juice was when I was in matric (final year in high-school) and had a bit of a hangover and my friends were of the opinion that tomato juice was good for hangovers. I bought a can which we drank on the way home after which I promptly returned to the store and bought a few more.

You could say it was love at first taste!

[Worth1]

Keep in mind that to try the experiment it has to be after it is canned and you are ready to drink it.
You might want to try it on some store bough stuff.
My mothers never was that acidic and one of the reasons I cant drink the stuff.
Homemade I can but certain brands from the store kill me.
Cento brand doesn't do it to me.

[coronabarb]

For water bath canning tomato juice, the times for safety would be 35 mins pints, 40 mins qts...that's including the addition of lemon juice or citric acid for pH control and if you want to be sure there is no chance of botulism. 15 mins would be seriously under-processed, but of course, that is certainly up to you.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_03/tomato_juice.html

[coronabarb]

Ginny, you can purchase pH meters to test pre-canning. But pH does change through processing and over time afterwards, which is why using a recipe that has been tested before and after canning is recommended.

[coronabarb]

Looks good zenbaas!