Home Canned Tomato Juice

Yesterday I canned a hamper of tomatoes in the form of tomato juice. The first question is always why until you taste it. Tomato juice is usually inexpensive here going for about 99 cents for a 48 ounce can (2 cents per ounce) of the store brand. I get my tomatoes free but if I had to buy at the going rate of $8 per hamper my juice works out to 2 cents per ounce figuring in the electricity, essentially the same. My actual cost for 448 ounces was 0.003 cents per ounce. This would be the similar cost for anyone who grows their own tomatoes without the cost to produce those tomatoes, something that should always be considered when growing a vegetable garden. The biggest consideration with home canned tomato juice is not the cost but the taste! It has a nice, clean, garden fresh tomato flavour with none of the tinny off flavour of commercially canned tomato juice.

Food Mill

A food mill is essential for making smooth sauces and juices. I use a Kitchen Value (Home Hardware brand) manual food mill but will soon be switching to the equivalent Kitchen Aid attachment. A food mill removes the peels and seeds making quick work for juicing. The mill attaches to the countertop. Food is fed into the hopper (not shown) then a handle in turned so that the seeds and skins go out the waste shoot (behind) while the juice comes down another shoot into the collecting pan (front). A more detailed picture of the food mill can be found on a previous blog entry here.

Making tomato juice is easy but has a little twist. Tomatoes contain a high level of pectase that is activated when tomatoes are cut. This can lead to separation during storage. To reduce this the tomatoes have to be heated quickly on high heat to destroy the enzyme. When making tomato juice a layer of cut tomatoes is brought to a boil then additional tomatoes are added, crushing them into the mixture until all the tomatoes are heated. The mixture is then brought to a boil, removed from the heat and put through a food mill.

Tomato Juice

An average of 3 lbs of tomatoes is needed to make 1 L (about 1 quart) of juice. Choose a juicing tomato if possible. Other varieties will work but you will get far less juice out of a paste tomato. If you grow your own consider making juice from yellow tomatoes as well.

I made 14 lovely jars (L & quarts) of tomato juice yesterday. The work was easy enough but a bit drawn out but some of that was due to getting used to the new kitchen. Despite my plans, I didn't start the actual canning process until early evening then had to run the canner twice for processing as it only holds 7 L jars when used as a boiling water bath. So that meant I didn't get my mushroom soup canned but that will likely be today's project along with canning carmelized onions so watch for both of those coming soon.

Home Canned Tomato Juice
recipe for 1 L (quart) jars

3 lb tomatoes per L (quart) jar
2 tbsp lemon juice per jar or 1/2 tsp citric acid
1 tsp sea salt (optional)

Determine how many jars you want to process. My canner holds 7 L or quarts when used for boiling water bath canning. Weight out your tomatoes then wash. Cut into halves or quarters. Start with a layer of tomatoes in a large stainless steel stock pot. Bring to a boil on high heat then add more tomatoes (lg bowl full) at a time to mix in. Continue doing this until all the tomatoes have been added. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Run the mixture through a food mill. Return the juice to a large stock pot and bring to a boil. Pour into hot, sterilized litre or quart jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Add 12 tbsp lemon juice or 1/2 tsp citric acid per jar. Add salt if desired. Wipe the rim and cap. Process 40 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.

Peameal Bacon on a Bun & Canning Whole Tomatoes

Quite often I will make simpler meals during the heavier canning season. The reasons for this is I've already been on my feet for much of the day doing prep work and know I will be canning more after dinner along with the kitchen being cluttered with large canning pots. Yesterday my husband brought home two hampers of tomatoes signalling the start of the tomato canning season so I decided peameal bacon on a bun would make a quick, easy yet satisfying meal.

Peameal Bacon on a Bun

Peameal bacon is a Canadian delicacy so I decided to learn to cure my own peameal bacon. Curing meat is not difficult and homemade is generally less expensive. One question that always arises is how to serve peameal bacon. The most popular way is to serve as a bacon for breakfast, simply pan fried until the edges are golden. However, peameal is a quick cooking meat making it ideal for fast meals so we also use it as a dinner meat. Last night instead of serving with vegetable sides, I decided to make peameal bacon on a bun. The peameal bacon was pan fried then loaded onto a bed of lettuce, topped with sharp cheddar cheese and sandwiched between toasted sesame seed buns. It was a simple, easy and frugal meal that allowed me to get back to processing tomatoes.

Processing Tomatoes

Processing tomatoes is a big production here. I'm very fortunate that a relative grows them so I have a free source. This is very much appreciated this year since I didn't grow any this year with the move. My husband picks up hampers of tomatoes (1) very early in the morning. My goal is to process a hamper a day into various tomato products. In the next couple of weeks I will process at least 10 of these hampers. Yesterday he picked up two for starters but 3/4 of one went to one of the kids so I had 1 1/4 hampers to process. Mind you, I know processing will be a bit slower as I get accustomed to working in my new kitchen that (rolling eyes) still is awaiting countertops and a built-in.

The tomatoes are freshly picked from the field so need to be washed. I rinse them well then cover with soapy water (2) to wash. Once the tomatoes are rinsed twice after their wash they will either be blanched and peeled (3) depending on what I'm making. To slip the skins, I blanch the tomatoes for 2 minutes the transfer the tomatoes to ice water. The skins split and can easily be pulled off. Of course slipping the skins increase the prep time so most home preservers omit that step if possible. I decided to start with canning whole tomatoes so slipping the skins was a must.

Canned Whole Tomatoes

Last year I didn't process any whole tomatoes with the idea that if I canned sauces only it would be more convenient. It was the first and only year I didn't can whole tomatoes. It was a mistake not to do so as whole tomatoes are often needed in recipes and I ran out of frozen whole tomatoes half way through the winter. With freezer space being at a premium this year I will be canning more whole tomatoes than freezing.

About 1/2 of a hamper was washed, peeled then canned into whole tomatoes resulting in 7 quarts of lovely whole tomatoes. Whole tomatoes can be canned using a boiling water bath (BWB) or pressure canned with water or tomato juice, raw or hot packed so it can get complicated. BWB has a processing time for raw packed of 85 minutes for 1 L (quart) or 10 minutes pressure canned. Pressure canning increases the antioxidant properties of lycopene. When you do as much canning as I do saving 75 minutes processing time is critical so I decided to pressure can. The instructions are for tomatoes in water, raw packed then pressure canned.

Canning Whole Tomatoes

whole tomatoes, 3 lb per 1 L jar
2 tbsp lemon juice per 1 L jar (or 1/2 tsp citric acid)
1 tsp sea salt (optional)

Pack the tomatoes into a hot jar leaving 1 1/4 inch headspace. Add lemon juice, salt and boiling water leaving 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and add more boiling water to bring the level to 1 inch head space. Wipe the rims. Adjust two piece lids. Place in canner. When canner is full, lid then vent for 10 minutes. Place regulator on the canner, bring to pressure and pressure can 10 minutes at 10 lb pressure. Allow the canner to depressurize. Remove the jars and allow to cool 24 hours. Check for seal. Label then store.

Venison Loaf

The temperatures soared and humidity levels climbed here yesterday. I had planned on grilling venison burgers for dinner. My husband suggested we make venison loaf instead of burgers deeming it too hot to grill but not to hot to take in a short boat ride. Thunderclouds were in the horizon as we headed back from the marina to enjoy a nice meal. Our new kitchen is on the lower level of an earth bermed house so using the oven doesn't heat the house as it would in other layouts.

Venison Loaf

I've made a few entries on cooking venison. Venison is a rich, very low fat meat with an unappealing mouth fat feel if it isn't served hot. For that reason two things are critical when preparing venison. First you must add a fat with the most common being pork in the form of bacon or ground pork depending on the dish. Second, venison dishes must be served hot! This may take a bit more planning to have everything ready at the same time but trust me it is worth it. I served the venison loaf with oven baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Venison Loaf*

2 lb ground venison
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c dry bread crumbs
250 g (1/2 lb) bacon, cut across the slices to form small pieces
1/2 large spanish onion, chopped
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1/2 c Heinz 57 sauce

Prepare onion and bacon. Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix well by hand. Turn the mixture into a silicone loaf pan or well greased loaf pan and pat down. Bake at 250ºF for 40 minutes. Increase the heat to 350ºF for 10 minutes. Serve hot.
Servings - 6
*form into patties for grilling

On the Grill - Pork Ribs with Steamed Broccoli

The weather was lovely last night so I decided to try my hand at grilling ribs. Despite me having a fair amount of experience grilling various meats, my husband generally grills the ribs. I decided to try my hand at grilling ribs so here is what I came up with.

On the Grill

I used a large slab of pork ribs then added a bit of my cooking expertise to come up with this meal. Accompaniments included grilled potatoes topped with sour cream and steam broccoli. What I was aiming for was a very tender, melt-in-your-mouth rib that was tasty. So I brought in one of my tricks from grilling chicken. There are very few times I don't grill chicken using beer to control the flames. To my way of thinking this method should work with ribs. From the comments, I was not far off the mark!

Ingredients:
1 large slab pork ribs
2 cans light, preservative free beer
1/2 bottle barbeque sauce of your choice

Method:
For tasty ribs you want long and slow. Heat the grill to medium low then place the ribs on the grill. Let the ribs grill slowly while extinguishing any flare-ups with a spritz of beer. Once the ribs can be lifted from the grate, turn and generously brush on the barbeque sauce using a silicone brush. Leave the ribs to cook on the other side while the top side carmelizes. Continue spritzing with beer as needed to control flare-ups. When the bottom side is well marked, turn and brush with barbeque sauce then allow to carmelize. Remove from the grill and serve.


Plated

This really is not the best picture so I do apologize for that. The ribs came out melt in your mouth. I served the ribs with steamed broccoli and grilled potatoes. To grill potatoes put them onto indirect heat about 10 minutes before the meat goes onto the grill. Steamed broccoli keeps its nice bright green colour and tastes wonderful with just a pinch of sea salt and butter. Here's how I make steamed broccoli.

Steamed Broccoli
1 head fresh broccoli
water
sea salt to taste (optional)
butter to taste (optional)

Place about 2 inches of water into a steamer pot or pot with a colander and tight fitting lid. Wash the broccoli then cut into flowerettes reserving the stems (for broccoli soup later). Bring the water to a boil. Place the broccoli into the steamer basket and cover. Cook 3 minutes. Uncover, season and serve.