[ContainerTed]

Last year I decided that "tomato juice" would be most of what I can this year. I use it for the majority of the other recipes - sauces, salsa, etc. I core and cut up the tomatoes into chunks that the food mill will handle. So here's what I do. Whatever's on the counter at the time is what goes in. I don't cook anything until after they are thru the food mill.

I like the "juice" to be pretty thick, so I do a lot of reducing. My last batch started as two 8 quart pots nearly full and that got reduced to a combined 7 quarts. I do add canning salt (~1 tspn/quart) and then do the taste test. If I think it needs it, I may add a bit of sugar to sweeten it up. Many times the sugar is unnecessary. Then it's into the jars and either water bath or pressure canner. I'm beginning to really like my pressure canner.

Later, in the winter, if I want sauce, I can add the spices and maybe some corn starch and cook it down some more. If I want salsa, same thing. If I want juice, I can add some distilled water to thin it a bit. I really like the thick juice half and half with a good beer - I like Natural Ice - served up in a "frosty mug". It is very smooth and refreshing and around here, we call it a "Redeye". You can "doctor" it up, but the basic blend is great as it is.

I see two positives in the 50%+ reduction. One is that the sauces and salsas take less time to finish and the other is that total storage space required is also reduced.

In the spring and early summer, when the new tomato plants begin to produce, I take all of the remaining cans of the previous year's "juice" and, adding some tomatoes from the new crop, make fresh salsa's for the early summer's activities. At that same time, I begin to make some more "juice" for the coming winter.

Works great for us here at the Muddy Bucket Farm.