Making Tomato Juice

Let me begin this article by telling you about the mistake.  In February I bought some new tomato seed and planted them (along with other varieties) at the time suggested by the almanac.  I wanted Romas because they are noted for making good tomato juice.  We nursed 90 baby tomato plants here on the sun porch and I took care not to give away all the Roma plants.  Time came to set the tomatoes in the garden, we nursed them along and with all the rain we’ve had this spring before long I started seeing baby tomatoes. Before you knew it some of the tacky little ones started turning red.  Would you believe the package of seed I bought for Roma is not!!  I’m just sick — whatever this variety is it gets ripe when it’s not much bigger than my thumb.  I can’ t believe all the time and effort we put in during the early spring and now this!!  I’m livid!!

We have oodles of the wrong variety now ripe and its time to make juice.  John brings in a bucket of the little jewels in and first I wash them, cut off the bad part, split them open and put them in a pan to be cooked.

When they’re done and you can tell that, we put them through what we call the juicer — I believe on the handle of this utensil is stamped  “food mill.” Anyway we put an ample amount of tomatoes in the juicer, and then the handle is turned separating the peel and seed from the juice.

With that done we put quart jars in an iron skillet with a bit of water in the bottom and heat them — at the same time the lids (flats and rings) are heating in yet another container.  During all this time the juice is getting boiling hot.

At this point the hot juice is poured in the hot jar, removed from the stove and now the lid is applied.  We set the jars on a folded cloth and then wrap them up with two other dishcloths.  We feel like this helps ensure sealing.

What a job for two octogenarians (but we are reminded of how good this will be added to vegetable soup next winter). Vegetable soup is our signature dish. Clean up is a major problem  (and this time we had only three jars).  At this point we are exhausted, but this is our style of country living.