[ContainerTed]

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.