Up late to make tomato juice tonight
 

Well, I went over to Grainger County and purchased 4 bushels of what they called Beefsteak tomatoes to make my juice. I chopped up 3 bushels and have been making juice all day. I have the first 7 quarts out of the pressure canner and am reducing about 6 gallons of juice at the moment. It is soooo.... good. I didn't have that much out of my garden (at the same time) that would justify trying to make juice. So, I kept some of the juice from all the ones I grew and added the volume of the purchase and ........ Yeah, it's just wonderful.

I started with about 18 gallons of raw juice, and I'm cooking it down a bit more than usual. That's because I usually take out the seeds and then do the juice. With this setup, I've got a bit more watery juice that needs to be reduced.

So, it looks like about 24 to 30 quarts, give or take. Yeah, for those who haven't followed my juice posts before, I like my juice thick. In January and February, I'll be tasting some good stuff. I've said it before, and I'll repeat it again. It's like drinking a summer heirloom in the middle of a winter snow storm.

And, my recipe is just reducing the liquid and then adding canning salt. Nothing else. I've still got one quart from 2016 that will be next on the menu.

Take care, y'all.



Take care

Got 25 quarts out of this first part of the run. I'm tired. Been at this since about 9 o'clock this morning. I'll finish tomorrow.

Yeah, it tastes so danged good.

Ted what do you use to separate out the skins and seeds, and get it fine enough to be drinkable? I might want to try it this year, and I haven't a clue how to start. ( I suppose I could watch a YouTube video):)

Marsha, I am currently using a "Back to Basics" food mill. It is a hand crank type and is almost identical to the Victorio products. BTW, it also does apples for apple sauce and apple butter, etc. Mine cost me $57 about ten years ago. I am currently looking at the attachment for our Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Here's my steps to make my juice.

1. Wash the tomatoes. DUHHHH !!!!

2. Begin cutting the tomatoes and removing seeds. I use the point of my best knife to remove them without too much damage to the locule walls. After the seeds are secured, I cut up the remains of the tomatoes into chunks 1.5-2". I use large plastic bowls to hold the cut up chunks. I do not remove the skins.

3. I crank all the tomatoes thru the BTB mill which removes the skins and remaining seeds. I run everything thru at least twice to get all the juice and "meat" possible. The skins are usually so devoid of any meat that I can do a skin color check.

4. The juice goes into a large 12 quart pot on the stove where it is brought up to a gently rolling boil. Actually, you can't really call it a boil because the juice "rolls" but there are no bubbles. I stir with a large spoon every now and then and check the bottom for any sticking.

5. Now begins the reduction phase. You know you have the setup right when the contents of the pot are rolling without bubbles and the steam is rising off the surface. So, this is stir every now and then, and wait time. It is also tasting time and this is where, as it thickens, I add canning salt and perhaps a bit of sugar if the tomatoes had been on the tart side. It's important to wait till late in the reduction phase to add the salt. This assures the ratio of salt to juice is no more than 1 teaspoon per quart. When I have reduced it enough, I put it into jars and pressure can it.

I keep the freshly canned jars on the kitchen counter for about 48 hours to make sure the seals are good. I can reprocess any that fail. I've only had one fail ever. It was an almost undetectable irregularity in the rim of the jar. Then they are stored on shelves at normal room temp until needed. I like my juice cold, so mine will go into the fridge just before consumption.

I'm going to finish off the final bushel today. I'll take a few pictures and post them here.

I wonder if this stuff would make some sort of good hooch.

Worth

It makes a great wine, but you might have to add some sugar to get a higher alcohol content.

I bet your juice has some healing properties, especially spiritually.

My job as a wee thing was to stand on a chair and stir the stuff in a big granite ware kettle so it wouldn't stick.:lol:

Here's the pictures to go with the post above
 

Okay, here's the rig I use. I mount the BTB mill on one of our old cutting boards. I add in a small block of wood to raise it up to fit the height of my bowls. I also use a couple of clamps to hold everything together as one unit over the double sink.

[ATTACH]84558[/ATTACH]

This is the hopper where you put the tomato chunks. The hole is the driver for how large or small the chunks should be.

[ATTACH]84559[/ATTACH]

Here's how I have my chunks before they go into the hopper. Staging them this way allows me to do a lot of cutting up before I have to squeeze out the juice.

[ATTACH]84560[/ATTACH]

This blue (cheap) spoon is one that I use a lot. It moves the chunks to the hopper. And it also is my primary stirring instrument. By moving it sideways in the reduction pot, I can create a better stirring turbulence in the deep pot.

[ATTACH]84561[/ATTACH]

When everything is operating, this is the view of the process. The skins and seeds go out the left and the good stuff comes into the collection bowl.

[ATTACH]84562[/ATTACH]

Skins and seeds will be run at least a second time to make sure no meat or juice is missed.

[ATTACH]84563[/ATTACH]

If you want to recover seeds from this process, you must have all the tomatoes to be of the same variety. Otherwise, you'll have no way of knowing which seed is what variety. The BTB mill will get all the meat. The skins are so clean that you can easily tell if the skin is yellow or pink.

[ATTACH]84564[/ATTACH]

However, if you do only one variety, when you get done cranking, you can add water to the waste of skins and seeds and by pouring off the skins, the seeds are left and I have not found any problem with viability.

[ATTACH]84565[/ATTACH]

That's it. Now the juice is reduced and it goes into jars and is canned. I always take the pressure up to 15-18 PSI for about 5 minutes in addition to the normal recommended canning times. This gives me reassurance that I've covered all the bad accidental possibilities in my sterilization processes.

Cheers, Y'all.

I would hesitate to use that unit because it's made out of aluminum, and aluminum reacts with the acid in the tomatoes, so you'll be getting a dose of aluminum which is a contributing factor in Alzheimer's. I had the same unit, it works great,but I don't want the aluminum in my food so I made one just like it out of stainless steel and added a motor, it makes momma happy. Cabelas sells an attachment for their meat grinders that is made out of porcelain covered cast iron I think, it's a very nice unit,and makes great applesauce as well, 2 weeks ago we got together with some friends and made and canned over a thousand quarts of applesauce and pressed about 300 gal of cider. We used the Cabelas units for the sauce,and my bladder press for the cider.

[QUOTE=biscuitridge;717001]I would hesitate to use that unit because it's made out of aluminum, and aluminum reacts with the acid in the tomatoes, so you'll be getting a dose of aluminum which is a contributing factor in Alzheimer's. I had the same unit, it works great,but I don't want the aluminum in my food so I made one just like it out of stainless steel and added a motor, it makes momma happy. Cabelas sells an attachment for their meat grinders that is made out of porcelain covered cast iron I think, it's a very nice unit,and makes great applesauce as well, 2 weeks ago we got together with some friends and made and canned over a thousand quarts of applesauce and pressed about 300 gal of cider. We used the Cabelas units for the sauce,and my bladder press for the cider.[/QUOTE]


I'm not saying you are wrong but if you do you might consider not eating out in restaurants because many of them use aluminum kettles. :)

You are right,that's exactly why I don't eat out at restaurants, why should I when I have all the organic produce that I need right in my garden. I know most people aren't that fortunate to have the space and time to grow most of their own food,anyway it's just a heads up in case anyone is interested. Not trying to put a damper on anyone's fun.

[QUOTE=ContainerTed;716981]Okay, here's the rig I use. I mount the BTB mill on one of our old cutting boards. I add in a small block of wood to raise it up to fit the height of my bowls. I also use a couple of clamps to hold everything together as one unit over the double sink.

[ATTACH]84558[/ATTACH]

This is the hopper where you put the tomato chunks. The hole is the driver for how large or small the chunks should be.

[ATTACH]84559[/ATTACH]

Here's how I have my chunks before they go into the hopper. Staging them this way allows me to do a lot of cutting up before I have to squeeze out the juice.

[ATTACH]84560[/ATTACH]

This blue (cheap) spoon is one that I use a lot. It moves the chunks to the hopper. And it also is my primary stirring instrument. By moving it sideways in the reduction pot, I can create a better stirring turbulence in the deep pot.

[ATTACH]84561[/ATTACH]

When everything is operating, this is the view of the process. The skins and seeds go out the left and the good stuff comes into the collection bowl.

[ATTACH]84562[/ATTACH]

Skins and seeds will be run at least a second time to make sure no meat or juice is missed.

[ATTACH]84563[/ATTACH]

If you want to recover seeds from this process, you must have all the tomatoes to be of the same variety. Otherwise, you'll have no way of knowing which seed is what variety. The BTB mill will get all the meat. The skins are so clean that you can easily tell if the skin is yellow or pink.

[ATTACH]84564[/ATTACH]

However, if you do only one variety, when you get done cranking, you can add water to the waste of skins and seeds and by pouring off the skins, the seeds are left and I have not found any problem with viability.

[ATTACH]84565[/ATTACH]

That's it. Now the juice is reduced and it goes into jars and is canned. I always take the pressure up to 15-18 PSI for about 5 minutes in addition to the normal recommended canning times. This gives me reassurance that I've covered all the bad accidental possibilities in my sterilization processes.

Cheers, Y'all.[/QUOTE]

Ted this thread is a lot of work for you to post but I am thanking you so much. The explanations are detailed, the pictorial makes your technique so easy to follow. I am doing a bit if online searching for the processor, I will get seriously into it in November, because this is crunch time for me. (I have about 500 beautiful seedling plants that were pre ordered for sale, and another 300 for my annual Swap next Saturday.)
I am saving this thread to my favorites, again so many thanks.😍

Marsha, I'm looking to buy the Kitchen Aid accessory simply to have the motorized version. It works with the meat grinder attachment, which I already have. I'm told that a few parts change out to get the tomato/apple/whatever milling function. You might consider this. I intend to have mine for next season, but I'm also considering getting it now (before prices go up again) to do some apple sauce and a jar or two of apple butter.

Apple butter is so easy to make and tastes so good on those morning when you want some to go on your toast.

Dang it. Now I've done gone and got myself watering at the mouth.

Take care

Up late to make tomato juice tonight
 

Ted, thanks for sharing your "how to." If you do buy the attachment this year and use it for apples, please let us know how it goes.

I bought it last year and it's been fantastic for tomatoes as long as I cut them into a size that easily fits into the chute. You're already doing that with yours, so you won't have a problem.

I just ran a bunch of dwarf pastes through it yesterday and I'm still surprised with how much easier it is to set up and run. Once they were cut up, the machine was set up, this bowl of dwarfs plus the smaller bowl of other pastes was run through, the peels run through twice, the purée was on the stove cooking down, and the machine was disassembled and in the sink in less than half an hour. I can actually use my 8 quart pot under it to catch the juice which is a big plus. And clean up time is about the same as with the Vittorio.

I haven't had a chance to try it with anything else yet, but apples would be at the top of the list.

[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181014/3ee755a74c5793d87f2c59c5da44c61a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181014/e608b855b16793584def50317b0305b7.jpg[/IMG]

I have the Kitchenaid attachment and use it for both tomatoes and apples. It works very well for both, but I've found the apples work better if they are simmered a little first. Otherwise you need to put quite a bit of pressure to push the apples through. The hopper is unsupported from below and my unit has developed hairline cracks on the plastic where it attaches to the mixer.

I ran across a strainer attachment that would have been the cats meow for my meat grinder with a little (((adaptive engendering))) but for the life of me I cant find it anymore.:lol:

Worth

Okay, I just ordered the kit to be able to use the Kitchenaid mixer for straining tomatoe, etc. It'll be here in a few days. I'll do a checkout and rating on what I think. I started to do the $40 offering, but it was "refurbished" and that means my high school girlfriend and wife of 54 years will not accept it. So, I got a new one and life at the Muddy Bucket Farm can continue to be calm and sweet. :)

[QUOTE=ContainerTed;717051]Okay, I just ordered the kit to be able to use the Kitchenaid mixer for straining tomatoe, etc. It'll be here in a few days. I'll do a checkout and rating on what I think. I started to do the $40 offering, but it was "refurbished" and that means my high school girlfriend and wife of 54 years will not accept it. So, I got a new one and life at the Muddy Bucket Farm can continue to be calm and sweet. :)[/QUOTE]
I got the kitchenAid 6 quart Professional in the refurbished outlet section and love it for a fraction of the cost.
Well a (( fraction)) of the cost could be 1 cent less but you know what I mean. :lol:
And I also know what you mean too. ;)
Worth

Ted just wondering? if the unit seperates the skins and seeds from the juice and pulp, why do you take the time to remove the seeds by hand?---tom

Tom, here's why.

Because I can kill two birds with one process. I save a lot of seeds each season. I can't save seeds from the juice process because I use more than one variety at a given time when making juice. So, I gather seeds from each variety first. If I can remove the seeds I wish to keep, then I can cut up the remaining "meat" to go into the juice process.

I also have seeds listed for sale on HeritageSeedMarket_dot_com. Go up to post #9 and read the description associated with the picture that shows my left hand holding a piece of yellow skin (which came from a red beefsteak tomato).

Each year, I save seeds from more than 50 different varieties. Some for seed restock, some for stabilization of new varieties I'm working on, and some from new (for me) varieties. By removing seeds before I do the juice, I don't have to reduce the "juice" as much because the seed saving process uses a lot of the watery liquid around the seeds for the fermentation process.

From the 4 bushels I bought, I still have about 3/4 of a bushel left. I am trying to save them for the Kitchenaid kit I bought online. But if I can't hold them long enough for that, I'll still go and find some to use in a test of the new equipment. Perhaps I'll do some beefsteak types and also some roma types from the local grocery store. Whatever it takes, I'll keep my word and show how the danged thing works - one way or another.

No, I won't let the 3/4 bushel box go to waste. I'm not built that way.

Take care, everyone.

lol, that explains it! , never brought saving seeds into the equation. --tom

Yes, I agree with you, Ted, seed saving slows the whole process down. As I've had Dwarf Project pastes from nine different plants in almost every batch I've run through this year, it meant I spent a lot of time sorting the tomatoes by plant, picking out seeds, putting them in little labeled jars, rinsing the cutting board and knife before moving on to the ones from the next plant... Really slows down the process.

Thankfully the fruit have been very consistent from each plant and I have saved more than enough seeds from each to send off to Craig, so didn't have to save any from this last batch. What a treat it was to just zip through them!

I hope your KA shows up soon. I don't do much baking other than bread now and then, but with the meat grinder attachment we use to grind meat for sausage making, and now the food mill attachment for the tomatoes, I feel like it's finally earning it's keep!

Thank you, Tom, and LOL here too. I do that a lot.

My New Setup Going Forward
 

Okay, I've got the Kitchenaid milling attachment and in a few words, "I love it". After reading many reviews, I went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. It was here in 4 days and that's with regular shipping. Total price was $58, and that's what I paid for the Back To Basics hand crank device I have been using for more than 11 years. I really wish I had done this years ago.

This setup requires both the Meat Grinder attachment kit and the Food Milling Attachment kit to do tomato or apple milling. A single kit is available which includes all the parts needed to do setups for both functions. I make sausage every now and then and I mill tomatoes every year.

1. From the Meat Grinder kit, you only need the main housing and the large screw-on "nut" that keeps the blades in place.

2. Mount the main pinion from the Milling kit into the Grinder housing part and then add the long feed screw and the screen and secure with the large "nut" from the grinder kit.

3. Add the housing part that comes with the milling attachment and you are ready to go. It's the part that catches the pulp and juice coming from the screen. It should hang somewhat loosely and you should be able to rotate it freely about the "Nut" mentioned above. You are officially ready to go.

Now, just feed the cut up tomatoes into the hopper and with the mixer set on speed position 4, put a juice catching bowl and a waste catching bowl in place as shown below.

[ATTACH]84638[/ATTACH]

One of the things I really like about this setup is that the part that catches the "squeezin's" rotates easily. This allows me to take a skewer or a spatula and get the thicker meat off the screen without any muss or fuss at all (2nd pix). And I was able to do 3/4 of a bushel of tomatoes without having to stop and clean the screen.

[ATTACH]84639[/ATTACH]]

The only negative I could see is that the feed hopper was a bit small. I had read ratings where the size of that hopper was a problem. However, there's a part available that can give you a large feed tray.

I only had to cut up the tomatoes slightly smaller than I had for the BTB mill. That's not a problem.

Anyhow, this Kitchenaid setup gets my unequivocal recommendation. I will have the larger feed tray and will retire my BTB handcrank machine. Setup was not such a fuss and was done in 1/4 of the time. I didn't have to be over the sink. My arm isn't tire from cranking. My shirt was not as messed up from squirts and drips from the hand crank model. Take down was easier. Cleanup was easier. I actually was able to clean the screen without going out to the garden hose.

I'll answer any questions you may have.

Could a person of my imagination and a lathe make a fitting to adapt to a bigger hopper?:)

Worth

Well, I would never say that "YOU" could never make anything. Here's two links that will show you what must be done.

This first link shows you what the smaller hopper looks like.

[URL]https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-FVSFGA-Vegetable-Strainer-Attachment/dp/B00004SGFJ/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540060682&sr=8-3-fkmr2&keywords=kitchenaid+food+milling+attachment[/URL]

And this is the part that is sold to sit on top of that.

[URL]https://www.amazon.com/KitchenAid-FT-Food-Tray-Attachment/dp/B00004SGFI/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540060562&sr=8-1-fkmr2&keywords=kitchenaid+food+milling+attachment[/URL]

I actually thought about making something, but I figure that I'll probably make a purchase with Amazon some time soon and will simply add this to the cart.

Outside diameter dimensions of the tube going from hopper to the bottom and if any taper how much per inch in thousandths.
Cut tube in half and make adapter to fit over it and the top part of adapter connected to large container.

The only other consideration would be that cut up tomatoes are very WET. So, a good seal on all the components is a must. The primary problem with the setup and no larger feed tray is that some of the chunks can fall out of the smaller tray and land in the squeezin's which are directly below. The larger tray that is for sale sits on top of the smaller one at a 90 degree angle and basically prevents this contamination of the squeezin's with unwanted seeds or pieces of skins.

Now, if you mean to make something that will allow a LARGE bowl of chunks to be mounted and then fed into the hopper, then I will offer my vast years of analytical testing and quality monitoring to help you evaluate your new invention that could be patented. :)

Take care, my friend