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
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