100 Lbs Tomatoes = 6 gallons raw sauce
 

My Son, who likes math (must be adopted..:lol:) figured this out. He says 100 pounds of raw tomatoes (before processing through tomato mill) equaled 6 gallons of raw sauce. Cooking down the raw sauce by 1/2 total volume (this would produce a thick sauce) netted 3 gallons of finished sauce, ready to can. He says he has done three batches and all were almost exactly alike as to weight and volume.

So 4 quarts equals a gallon and that would mean 12 quarts of plain sauce ready to can. He used only paste/drying varieties of tomatoes which translates to much less water content so I would imagine if someone was using any old tomato, it might effect the pounds to gallons finished rate? ( I SUCK at math...) Or would it not change the ration but require more cooking down time?

This is helpful to me because I keep detailed records of total weight of tomatoes picked from each plant so I think I can now look at my notes and figure out more accurately how many plants I need to plant to get my 100 lbs.

I normally use one or both of our 8 quart pots for cooking down the raw processed tomatoes. Also, I use anything that's on the counter at the time I start things. My formula (so far) has been that the two pots, as full as I can get them and still let a simmering boil start, will yield 6 quarts of "juice" when I'm done. This is what I put into the jars for canning and can then make sauce or salsa from the concentrated "juice". The only thing put into the "juice" at canning time is some canning salt and possibly a conservative bit of sugar to achieve the sweetness I prefer.

I don't know what the weight of the tomatoes are when I start. I use some large popcorn bowls for the cut and chopped up tomatoes which have the seeds removed if I'm saving seeds from a particular variety. Otherwise, the seeds will be removed by the "Back to Basics" food mill. Six of my popcorn bowls piled high with tomato chunks will yield the two 8 quart pots full of squeezings to reduce down.

Let's see ..... lots of toms ... six makes 6 .... or was it ... 8 is filled by .... anyhow, this is like chinese algebra .... tweak the formula at the end and ....
Well, folks, in any case, it works for me. LOL :)

Is a tomato mill the same as a Foley Food Mill? Or if not, would the Foley work?

[QUOTE=tam91;236060]Is a tomato mill the same as a Foley Food Mill? Or if not, would the Foley work?[/QUOTE]
A Foley Mill should work, but make sure the screen holes are small enough to prevent the tomato seeds from going through. It also may be difficult to crank because you have to hold it in place, turn the crank and use something to push the tomatoes down.

I process A LOT of tomatoes (as in more than 300 lbs...) and have an electric tomato mill. I used a "Hand Crank" tomato mill for a couple of years but it took to long, made a big mess and was just a pain-in-the-posterior to use when doing more than a few tomatoes.

To use a tomato mill it helps to put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes before putting them in the mill and it also helps to cut larger tomatoes into pieces. My mill removes all seeds, skins and stems (I do usually remove the stems because they tend to get stuck coming through...) When you are done, you have a mix that can be cooked down to use for sauce or whatever you want to use it for. You can buy several models of "hand crank" that would be easier than a Foley.

"100 pounds of raw tomatoes (before processing through tomato mill) equaled 6 gallons of raw sauce"

That would be 16.66 pounds per gallon. I would guess the raw sauce would weigh around 8 pounds per gallon, so that tomato mill must be removing 8 pounds of something.

Is it removing skins? Water? I don't know what a tomato mill is.

Edit. I didn't see the post above when I posted.

Thanks Brokenbar!

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236080]"100 pounds of raw tomatoes (before processing through tomato mill) equaled 6 gallons of raw sauce"

That would be 16.66 pounds per gallon. I would guess the raw sauce would weigh around 8 pounds per gallon, so that tomato mill must be removing 8 pounds of something.

Is it removing skins? Water? I don't know what a tomato mill is.

Edit. I didn't see the post above when I posted.[/QUOTE]
No problem! The mill puts out the seeds, etc. on one chute and the debris-free tomato sauce out another chute. I get a big bunch of skins, seeds, etc that I have to dump. There is also some water in the debris bucket. I usually run the contents of the debris bucket through the mill once more and quite a bit of juice/sauce comes out of it second time around.

This is why I like Costoluto Genovese for sauce...it comes out practically finished through tomato mill and requires very little "cooking down" to reach optimum sauce consistency. I like a really thick rich tomato sauce for my Marinara.

It surprises me that they loose that much weight.

That would be 33 pounds of tomatoes for each gallon of finished sauce. If the finished sauce weighs around 8 pounds, that means that you are loosing around 75% of the weight.

Half of that weight loss would be from the cook down, but still your loosing 37.5% at the mill. I'm guessing at least half of that must be water.

That must be a nice thick sauce, as you said.:yes:

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236087]It surprises me that they loose that much weight.

That would be 33 pounds of tomatoes for each gallon of finished sauce. If the finished sauce weighs around 8 pounds, that means that you are loosing around 75% of the weight.

Half of that weight loss would be from the cook down, but still your loosing 37.5% at the mill. I'm guessing at least half of that must be water.

That must be a nice thick sauce, as you said.:yes:[/QUOTE]
It's even worse when you dry them...you lose about 90% of weight:shock:which is why sun-dried tomatoes are so expensive.

And if you are using just any old tomato. it's worse too. The ones I grow (and my son) are dry-ish and have few seeds. I had a friend who picked about 10 lbs of tomatoes and thought it would be enough for 8 quarts. She thought "a pound equals a quart" was a fair estimate!

Somewhere I read a table of "how many tomato plants to grow to have X-amount of finished sauce" and it was way more plants than than I would have guessed.

a gallon of water weighs a little more than eight pounds so i would guess that a gallon of sauce weighs a bit more than that...

[QUOTE=brokenbar;236097]It's even worse when you dry them...you lose about 90% of weight:shock:which is why sun-dried tomatoes are so expensive.

And if you are using just any old tomato. it's worse too. The ones I grow (and my son) are dry-ish and have few seeds. [COLOR=darkorange]I had a friend who picked about 10 lbs of tomatoes and thought it would be enough for 8 quarts. She thought "a pound equals a quart" was a fair estimate![/COLOR]

Somewhere I read a table of "how many tomato plants to grow to have X-amount of finished sauce" and it was way more plants than than I would have guessed.[/QUOTE]

Considering there are 2 lbs in a quart, your friend was a bit off on her calculations, yes? I have learned long ago when cooking or canning anything at all, it always takes more than I thought it did, so I buy/gather/grow more than I need for sure!

[QUOTE=biscgolf;236100]a gallon of water weighs a little more than eight pounds so i would guess that a gallon of sauce weighs a bit more than that...[/QUOTE]

biscgolf

Yes. I've always found that curious. A gallon of pure water, at standard temperature and pressure, weighs about 8.34 pounds.

And yet, a pint is supposed to be 16oz (1 lb), which would make a gallon an even eight pounds.

I don't know if the organic molecules of the tomatoes would be heavier or lighter than water, but hydrocarbons such as gasoline are lighter than water.

This question occurred to me when I typed 8 pounds above, but I figured 8 pounds was close enough.

If somebody wants to measure the density of their sauce as compared to water, water weights 1000 grams per liter, which equals 1 gram per cubic centimeter, or 1 gram per milliliter.

So break out your graduated beakers everyone. ;)

John

A gallon of milk weighs 8 pounds. Okay...that's all the math I can handle...
(and I know this having had both milk cows and dairy goats...)

I thought perhaps there were those here who had never canned sauce and so had no idea just how many pounds of tomatoes it would take. And it also takes quite a little time to simmer 5 gallons down by half if the raw sauce is from any old tomatoes. I have this HUGE sort of a crock pot thingy and it holds about 3 gallons.
I simmer my sauce overnight on low with the lid off. If you use the stove, can't leave it overnight cooking.

Spaghetti sauce should be really thick or the pasta absorbs too much water from the sauce and ends up over-done and a little mushy. This is why you should never mix spaghetti with the sauce ahead of time. Al dente..the only way to eat it...In cooking, the Italian expression al dente describes pasta that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard.

brokenbar

I started looking at tomato mills, and was curious what kind you have.

Something like this?

[url]http://www.tomatomilling.com/category.aspx?dkey=1[/url]

John

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236117]brokenbar

I started looking at tomato mills, and was curious what kind you have.

Something like this?

[URL]http://www.tomatomilling.com/category.aspx?dkey=1[/URL]


John, I have the [URL="http://www.yourdelight.com/omaz_tomato_machine.htm"]OMAZ [/URL] .80 . If you are going to continue to grow a lot of tomatoes and can sauce every year, an electric grinder is a great investment.
My Son also has this and has the grinder attachment as well as extra screens.

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236113]biscgolf

Yes. I've always found that curious. A gallon of pure water, at standard temperature and pressure, weighs about 8.34 pounds.

And yet, a pint is supposed to be 16oz (1 lb), which would make a gallon an even eight pounds.


John[/QUOTE]

fluid ounce and dry ounce are not the same thing... fluid ounce is a measure of volume as is pint, dry ounce is a measure of weight... hence the comparison of 16 (FL) oz= 1 pound does not hold up...

either way it takes a ****load (local measure here in the sticks) of tomatoes to make a gallon of sauce...;)

This is a food mill for those who do not process enough to justify an electric mill. I've used mine now for 3 years and it's more than adequate for our needs here.

Back to Basics Food Mill = [URL]http://www.amazon.com/B2B-Food-Strainer-Sauce-Maker/dp/B000I4Y4PK[/URL]

This year, we put away 36 quarts of ultra-thick juice.

[QUOTE=ContainerTed;236135]This is a food mill for those who do not process enough to justify an electric mill. I've used mine now for 3 years and it's more than adequate for our needs here.

Back to Basics Food Mill = [URL]http://www.amazon.com/B2B-Food-Strainer-Sauce-Maker/dp/B000I4Y4PK[/URL]

This year, we put away 36 quarts of ultra-thick juice.[/QUOTE]
I'm getting old...I have the common veterinarians lament of "palpation shoulder" which is polite for too many years sticking your arm up something's azz. I had a hand crank almost exactly like the one you show and it did a great job I just had too many to do. Any of them are messy...a job better done outside or in the barn. I always find the odd tomato seed "stuck to something" in my kitchen, months after having milled mine (not that stuff stuck to something bothers me as much as it used to...:no:)

I got the Roma manual tomato mill this spring (with the optional grape auger, pumpkin screen and berry screen) and have been quite pleased with it. I was able to do two flats worth of tomatoes (about 25 pounds) in about 45 minutes, including set up and clean up time.

I did one batch of roma tomatoes and several batches of mixed varieties. The roma tomatoes produced more sauce per pound of tomato after cooking, because the raw pulp/juice was less watery.

I also did two pounds of grapes to make grape jelly. A lot less work than running them through either a Foley mill or a chinois. Pumpkins are next on the list of things to try.

brokenbar

Have you ever tried mixing other varieties in with the paste tomatoes to alter the flavor?

If I remember correctly, you said something about the flavor of Costoluto Genovese changing during cooking.

Have you tried blending varieties to get a particular taste?

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236160]brokenbar

Have you ever tried mixing other varieties in with the paste tomatoes to alter the flavor?

If I remember correctly, you said something about the flavor of Costoluto Genovese changing during cooking.

Have you tried blending varieties to get a particular taste?[/QUOTE]
I have probably tried 50 varieties over the years for my special marinara sauce..nothing ever came close to Costoluto Genovese. I particularly like the consistency. And the flavor does change 360 when cooked. It is really a pretty "blah" tomato raw. I use my family and friends as tasters when trying another variety and they can tell the difference (I give the "not Costoluto Genovese sauce" to unsuspecting neighbors...I am evil.) It took me about 10 years to perfect my marinara...maniac that I am. Nothing goes in my marinara that I don't grow ( all herbs, peppers, carrots, onions) except the mushrooms and the meats if I am making the non-veg kind for my family of carnivores.

And the real kicker is, I don't like or eat tomatoes...ever. That is why I have to have others taste new sauces. I was a chef at a very upscale Italian restaurant while I put myself through college and vet school. I learned a lot about sauce and what it should be. Texture...hugely important. as little water as humanly possible so as not to ruin the pasta,
bouquet...should be a mouth-watering blend of complimentary aromas with no one aroma being over-powering (did you ever think anyone ever put this much effort into sauce???) I worked with a older chef who came for Italy and he could wax poetic on the virtues of the perfect sauce for hours!

As I only grow paste-type tomatoes, dry, few seeds for my sun-drying business, I have probably tried every sauce type tomato out there. My "friends" say I just should "shut my eyes" and buy the Ragu"...heathens.

[QUOTE=brokenbar;236164]And the real kicker is, I don't like or eat tomatoes...ever. [/QUOTE]

:surprised: Not even the cooked sauce? Ever?

brokenbar - I am going to be trying Costoluto Genovese tomatoes this year. As you mentioned you kept numbers - approximately how many pounds of tomatoes were you averaging (roughly) for each of those plants?

[QUOTE=semi_lucid;236167]:surprised: Not even the cooked sauce? Ever?[/QUOTE]
NO..YUCK never even tempted

[QUOTE=Mandy97;236168]brokenbar - I am going to be trying Costoluto Genovese tomatoes this year. As you mentioned you kept numbers - approximately how many pounds of tomatoes were you averaging (roughly) for each of those plants?[/QUOTE]
I had to go look...I got between 16 and 23 pounds on my CG's in Mexico. My last year in Wyoming I got 10 to 18 (shorter growing season) The fruit was a little smaller as the season wore on. The plants are just covered with them. I break my own rule because I don't grow any other tomatoes that are not really large (except CG & RST, see below.) CG is medium-large but what they lack in size they make up for in production. They were also one of my first to ripen in my mid-season garden in Wyoming. In Mexico, mine were still producing like crazy when I pulled everything up in July, the start of the humid summer weather.

I shared seeds with a friend in San Diego County a couple of years ago. She lives way inland so hot, high desert clime. She says hers are the best producing tomato she grows. She also only grows them for sauce because they really do suck for fresh eating. She says her neighbors are always hitting her up for some and don't believe her when she tells them they are only for cooking (she says they all think she is lying and just being stingy!) My friend is also a fellow sun-dried tomato producer. She started a couple of years ago and says she can hardly keep up with the demand from restaurants. Lots more restaurants in California than Wyoming! I envy her because she goes to this close-out place and gets red wine for a $1.00 a bottle (we are talking really crappy red wine but for soaking the tomatoes in, it does not matter.) If I had to pick a second like CG, it would be Russo Sicilian Togeta which I also grow and it is one of my favorites. A tad smaller than CG and better fresh. It never failed to put out a crop for me in 26 years in Wyoming. Both CG & RST have very uniform sized fruit.

[QUOTE=brokenbar;236164]I have probably tried 50 varieties over the years for my special marinara sauce..nothing ever came close to Costoluto Genovese. I particularly like the consistency. And the flavor does change 360 when cooked. It is really a pretty "blah" tomato raw. I use my family and friends as tasters when trying another variety and they can tell the difference (I give the "not Costoluto Genovese sauce" to unsuspecting neighbors...I am evil.) It took me about 10 years to perfect my marinara...maniac that I am. Nothing goes in my marinara that I don't grow ( all herbs, peppers, carrots, onions) except the mushrooms and the meats if I am making the non-veg kind for my family of carnivores.

And the real kicker is, I don't like or eat tomatoes...ever. That is why I have to have others taste new sauces. I was a chef at a very upscale Italian restaurant while I put myself through college and vet school. I learned a lot about sauce and what it should be. Texture...hugely important. as little water as humanly possible so as not to ruin the pasta,
bouquet...should be a mouth-watering blend of complimentary aromas with no one aroma being over-powering (did you ever think anyone ever put this much effort into sauce???) I worked with a older chef who came for Italy and he could wax poetic on the virtues of the perfect sauce for hours!

As I only grow paste-type tomatoes, dry, few seeds for my sun-drying business, I have probably tried every sauce type tomato out there. My "friends" say I just should "shut my eyes" and buy the Ragu"...heathens.[/QUOTE]


Wow that's a lot of heart and soul into something you don't even eat! I have seeds for CG and Russo Sicilian Togeta for next year and I'm hoping to use them for sauce too. I think I eat more tomatoes in sauce than I do fresh and my kids aren't crazy about fresh tomatoes (older son likes them now and then) . I have some contraptions that are from ages and ages ago handed down from my grandmother for cleaning tomatoes...some sort of mills but they are really huge and I rarely use them. Then again, I don't make 3 gallons of sauce at one time, wow...

[QUOTE=lakelady;236173]Wow that's a lot of heart and soul into something you don't even eat! I have seeds for CG and Russo Sicilian Togeta for next year and I'm hoping to use them for sauce too. I think I eat more tomatoes in sauce than I do fresh and my kids aren't crazy about fresh tomatoes (older son likes them now and then) . I have some contraptions that are from ages and ages ago handed down from my grandmother for cleaning tomatoes...some sort of mills but they are really huge and I rarely use them. Then again, I don't make 3 gallons of sauce at one time, wow...[/QUOTE]
I made 14 gallons of sauce (I think...) I canned 48 quarts of marinara. These are my xmas gifts to relatives and friends (Thank God for UPS flat rate shipping!!! I will make my son tote it back to Wyoming and he will mail it out.) That is a heap 'o tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, herbs and meat! The "giant crock pot thingy" which is actually a Nesco Oven Roaster that applies heat from all sides like a crock pot. It holds 4 gallons really full (says it holds 18 quarts) so at least I can cook huge batches and get done faster.

I have the CG for next year... maybe I'll have to find some of the RST seeds for 2013. :)

Thank you for the info!

costoluto genovese
 

I am always looking for the best sauce tomato. I researched CG and some sites say it is juicy? with a strong traditional tomato flavor, with tartness. Could you tell us in detail the characteristics. How juicy, how tart? I made sauce a couple years ago with Celebrity tomatoes, and it was way to tangy, not enough sweet. I did not remove the gel or seeds, ran it all thru a blender. This yr I used san marzano and opalka together and made a really nice sauce, not tangy, and just sweet enough. Doing taste tests this yr, I realized the tart in most tomatoes is in the gel, so no more gel for me. My method now is cut tomatoes inhalf or quarters, lenth wise. Remove gel and seeds, cook to reduce, then mil. If you reduce before milling, the water and pulp separates, and the water keeps it from burning. Last yr I blenderized to a smoth sauce, and it stuck and burnt easily. Plus, cooked first, they run thru the mill efortlessly.

[QUOTE=kenny_j;236180]I am always looking for the best sauce tomato. I researched CG and some sites say it is juicy? with a strong traditional tomato flavor, with tartness. Could you tell us in detail the characteristics. How juicy, how tart? I made sauce a couple years ago with Celebrity tomatoes, and it was way to tangy, not enough sweet. I did not remove the gel or seeds, ran it all thru a blender. This yr I used san marzano and opalka together and made a really nice sauce, not tangy, and just sweet enough. Doing taste tests this yr, I realized the tart in most tomatoes is in the gel, so no more gel for me. My method now is cut tomatoes inhalf or quarters, lenth wise. Remove gel and seeds, cook to reduce, then mil. If you reduce before milling, the water and pulp separates, and the water keeps it from burning. Last yr I blenderized to a smoth sauce, and it stuck and burnt easily. Plus, cooked first, they run thru the mill efortlessly.[/QUOTE]


CG is not sweet raw but gets very sweet when cooked. I do not find it overly juicy...the area with seeds and gel is semi-hollow. I have said many times here that it comes through the mill practically as finished sauce. Very little water and it takes much less "simmering down" than any other variety I have tried. It has a little tang to it but not what I would consider a tang like one would want in a salsa tomato. I was able to cook down 3 gallons in my crock pot thingy in 6 hours at about 350. I like Opalka but prefer it as a drying tomato. I put my tomatoes in boiling water for 3 to 5 minutes and they mill easily.
I do cut CG in half. They also are not a tomato that has a ton of seeds. I am sending a bunch of seed home with my kid and he will offer it for a SASE in November.

My sauce "test" is that a toothpick should stand upright in it when it is thick enough. I only make marinara and I add peppers, onions etc so they do add a little moisture to the mix so I find it imperative to have the sauce as thick as I can get it before adding the other stuff.

And this sauce I make, this is a really heavy, rich sauce and is fine for spaghetti but would not be a good sauce for ravioli or lasagna, etc. It would be too overbearing and would mask the flavors in those dishes.

This is a "big jug of Chianti, big plate of spaghetti and some great crusty bread" kind of a sauce! I am headed to Rome the day before Thanksgiving and will be having some of that Chianti and bread!