I haven't cooked it down yet, but I started with 34 3/4 pounds of tomatoes today, mostly Mortgage Lifters and Brandywine, plus some from plants that were supposed to be San Marzano but aren't and 2 1/2 pounds of Romas.

I wound up with about 28 pounds of pulp and juice, around 13 quarts.

There were 4 1/2 pounds of pulp and seeds extracted by the tomato mill.

That means I lost about 2 1/4 pounds during processing, due to cutting out bad spots, stems, bug damage, etc.

Thanx broken bar, and I do enjoy reading your posts. I bought a dehydrator this yr, and realized just how good paste tomatoes are when cooked and or dryed. And we have been drying a lot of fruit. I have gotten to the point where I just don't enjoy eating fresh apples anymore, but dried I can't get enough of, peaches, pears and bananas will be a stple every time they go on sale. It's tuff to buy a good peach off season tho. Enjoy your trip to rome and hunt down some rare seeds if you get the chance!!!

Kenny, even the Italians often add a pinch of sugar to a cooked tomato sauce. If yours is a bit too tangy, you can just throw in a little bit of sugar to taste - it doesn't take much at all.

I weigh all of my tomatoes straight from the garden (Field Weight) and again after cleaning, trimming, and milling (Yield Weight). My Yield Weight averages 73% of my Field Weight, so 100 lbs of tomatoes from the field gives me on average 73 lbs of fresh juice/pulp ready to boil down.

About half of the 27 lbs lost in processing is due to trimming off the stems, cracks, scabs, blemishes, and other objectionable damage. I have a pretty heavy hand when it comes to trimming tomatoes for canning so as to be sure only perfect pieces make it to the pot. The other half of the loss comes from the milling.

How much tomato juice is needed to make a quart of finished sauce varies greatly, and depends on how juicy the tomatoes were to start with (paste versus slicer), how thick you like the sauce, and what other ingredients you add (onions, garlic, peppers, sugar, etc). I use a mix of tomato types in my sauces and I usually figure about 6-7 lbs of field tomatoes per quart of finished sauce.

TomNJ

Good to know regarding field weights and finished sauce weights Tom, I'm assuming that depends on the tomatoes used of course.

Brokenbar, glad to see you really like CG for sauce, because i have some planned for next year's garden, and I really do eat more tomatoes in sauce than fresh.

I'm wondering if the hearts, as they are thicker walled and less juicy are good for sauce too? I have some of those planned for next year as well.