Uncle Dick's Tomato Juice

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my favorite Uncle Dick making tomato juice.  That's weird isn't it?  Growing-up in the 1960s I think most every family had a Foley Food Mill for grinding-up all sorts of stuff like apples and tomatoes.  I recently discarded the ancestral food mill that had been languishing in the basement.  It was dented and rusty and the paint was flaking from the wooden handles – likely lead-based paint too.  I have a newer Foley mill.  It is identical in design to the old one except it is 100% stainless steel.  I purchased it - along with additional canning supplies - at my favorite retailer.  The home canning aficionado's all-purpose resource - Fleet Farm - has everything you need.  But I digress.

About the juice.

There is no written record of Uncle Dick's tomato juice recipe but since I’ve been making the stuff for almost a decade if you follow these directions you can make juice too.

I fetched a bunch of jars of canned tomatoes from last summer's garden.  This year was a bumper year for tomatoes and I have something on the order of fifty quarts of canned tomatoes stored in the bunker.  The tomatoes have already been peeled and cooked via the canning process so it is a simple matter to dump them into the mill and merrily go about grinding them into juice.  

click on images to enlarge

It's rather old-school as far as juicing goes but it works just fine.  Do you have any idea how lip-smacking yummy canned homegrown tomatoes are when you pop the lid off? Wow!  It transports you right back to August and September.

Periodically removing the pulp for the compost bin and grinding away I filled my largest stainless stock pot. I seasoned the juice with some additional kosher salt and a dash each of white pepper and garlic salt.

 Gently raise the heat on your juice and simmer until just shy of a boil. 

Fill sterilized quart jars with the hot juice and top with a sterile lid and screw down the band finger tight.  Process in a boiling water bath in the canner for another fifteen minutes.  Remove and set aside to cool.  When the lids pop they're good to go.

Fourteen quarts of bottled liquid sunshine. 

Thanks for the inspiration Uncle Dick - you're the best!
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* A word about the jars and lids.  Sterilize your jars by immersing them in boiling water or running them through the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' cycle.  Lids are easy - in the microwave heat a Pyrex measure full of water to a boil. Drop your lids in the hot water.  Fish them out with a sterile tongs.