I am always trying to find healthy things that I can make out of the excess in my garden, especially tomatoes. This Tomato Vegetable Juice Recipe is a fabulous recipe that not only makes a lovely vegetable drink but also makes the base for a terrific spaghetti sauce. There is such a wide variety of vitamins and nutrients in this juice that you feel good about drinking it.
Tomato Vegetable Juice
This recipe makes 3 quarts of tomato vegetable juice.
15 pounds of tomatoes
Ingredients to Make Tomato Vegetable Juice:
15 pounds quartered Tomatoes
1 c compressed Spinach
1/2 c finely diced Carrots
1/2 c finely diced Celery
1/3 c finely chopped Onions
1/3 c finely diced Beets
1/4 c finely diced Green Pepper
1/4 c finely chopped Parsley
1 tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Lemon Juice per quart
add all vegetables to your stock pot
Prepare the Vegetables:
Begin making the juice by combining all the vegetables (Tomatoes, spinach, carrots, celery, onions, beets, green peppers, and parsley) in a large pot. Heat it to a simmer and then simmer the vegetables until they are soft.
send the vegetables through the food mill
After the vegetables are soft, feed them through a food mill. This will separate the more solid portions like the seeds and skins from the vegetables. I like to run the waste through a second time to get as much moisture out of it as I can.
Alternatively, you could put the mixture through a blender to make it smooth and chop up the skins and seeds. We then use my husband’s honey strainer (Which I absolutely love!) to separate the pulp from the juice. You could use cheesecloth or a different kind of strainer but the honey strainer with its double wire mesh is my favorite.
The skin and seeds I send out to the chickens but you could actually use it as Emmaline does. It can be dehydrated and then ground into a powder to add nutrients to many different dishes. The pulp I set aside to make into spaghetti sauce later.
heat to 190 degrees for 20 minutes
Canning Tomato Vegetable Juice:
Now that you have a lovely juice, all you have to do is add the salt and bring the juice up to 190 degrees for 20 minutes. Do not let it start to boil or you will lose too much liquid through the steam.
After 20 minutes, it is time to place it in jars and can it. I like to put a little vegetable juice in the bottom of the jar before adding the lemon juice to give the jar a buffer from the cooler temperature of the lemon juice. I then fill it up leaving 1/4 inch headspace.
Place the lid on top of the jar and add the ring. Tighten the ring to fingertip tight and process in a boiling water bath for 40 minutes if at sea level. (Remember to adjust your processing time if higher than 1000 feet elevation.)
Once your juice has completed the appropriate time in the boiling water bath canner take it out and set it on the counter, spacing them about an inch apart, for 24 hours to cool and completely seal.
If your jar of juice did not seal then place it in the fridge and use it immediately. Store the sealed jars in your lovely pantry to enjoy for the next 1-3 years. After three years the nutritional value of canned food diminishes. The quality is best in the first year.
If you have any questions about canning with the boiling water canner or how to adjust the pressure or processing time for altitude, take a look at our canning basics videos.
