EASY TOMATO JUICE FOR CANNING

I always feel like I have a story when I am posting a new recipe or blog post.  With that thought process, this is no different.

During Scott's birthday party back in mid-August someone asked if I had juice.  Being a grammy my answer was, of course, I have juice.  What I did not realize was that he wanted tomato juice.  I am not a huge fan of tomato juice unless I am going to make a Bloody Mary, so I had to say no I did not have any tomato juice.  My friends know I can a lot of stuff but tomato juice was not on my list to can nor did I have any on my canning shelves.  Goodness, I had to make some changes.  I can not allow having someone come to my house and ask for something I do not have.  

With about any tomato processing, you start with the same procedures.  Slice your tomatoes into chunks. 

I always cook mine down for a while in order to be able to mash them up before running them through the food mill.

Once you have your tomatoes cooked down you can run them through the food mill in order to separate the skins and seeds from the juice.

Be sure to save the leftover seeds and skins so you can dehydrate them later to make tomato powder.

Once you have separate the skins and seeds from your liquid, you are left with this beautiful red tomato juice.  All you have to do is bring it back to a boil and you are ready to begin your canning process.

When you can any type of tomatoes you must add either lemon juice or citric acid in order to prevent botulism.  Some people prefer to use citric acid because they feel using lemon juice adds flavor to their tomatoes.  I personally have not had this issue.  

Safe canning procedures are essential when canning tomatoes.  Here is a link to help you along that journey.

You need to make sure you have sterilized jars.  You can do this with a few different methods.  I put my jars in a hot water bath or clean them in my dishwasher.  Either method will ensure your jars are sterilized.  

When canning tomato juice once you have your liquid separated you need to bring it to a boil.  Add a tablespoon of lemon juice per pint and 2 per quart.  Pour the tomato juice into your jars and apply lids and rings to finger tight.  Process in a water bath canner.  Pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes.  However, that may need to be adjusted depending on your area's altitude.  See the link above for correct time frames.  

On a different note, seems another hurricane is going to be making landfall soon.  I hope all stay safe.  

ENJOY!!