How to Make Tomato Juice

Tomato juice contains vitamins A and C as well as the antioxidant Lycopene, making it a healthy beverage. You can make fresh tomato juice from store-bought tomatoes or from your own garden tomatoes. In fact, tomato juice is an excellent use for an abundance of garden fresh tomatoes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Food Mill

1. Wash five pounds of ripe red tomatoes and then core and quarter them. To "core" the tomato, you will dig out the stem, much like digging out an eye of a potato.
2. Use a large nonreactive pot (enamel, glass, or stainless steel so it doesn’t react to the acidity of the tomatoes). Place the tomatoes in the pot along with one small halved red onion and one celery rib with leaves for flavor. Adding the onion and celery is optional.
3. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring often. Cook for about 30 minutes until tomatoes are soft.
4. Discard onion and celery. Pass the tomatoes through a food mill, which is a mechanical device that forces the tomatoes through a sieve. Discard the solids. Use the smaller holed-insert for your food mill.
   
   Food mill shown at left (click to enlarge) is from www.applesource.com, costs about $22, and can also be used to make applesauce and baby food.
5. Measure the juice. Rinse the pot. Return the juice to the pot. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar and up to 1 teaspoon of salt for each 4 cups of tomato juice. Add pepper to taste.
6. Stir as you bring the pot to a boil, and then reduce the heat to boil gently for 5 minutes.
7. Cool, then chill. If desired, you can pour the juice through a sieve to filter out any thick areas or seeds that may have passed through the food mill. May be refrigerated for up to three days.