Canning Tomato Juice

Canned Tomato Juice

(great for chili or goulash!)
...Mom's version...

1. Fill a stockpot with cut-up tomatoes, cook on medium heat (but watch and stir it—do not add water to it). As the tomatoes heat, the juices release from the tomatoes. Put some chopped onions & celery in as well.

2. Cook until tomatoes are soft; still stirring. You don’t really want it to come to a boil, because it could burn on the bottom.

3. Take pot off stove, set it on a hot pad on the counter. Have a medium kettle, with the foley food mill (grinder of some sort) on top.

4. Take the mixture in the stockpot, and put in foley food mill and turn the handle on the food mill, until all you have left in the foley food mill is seed and skin. You can throw the seed & skin.

5. Repeat adding mixtures and stirring.

6. As your bottom kettle fills up, pour the tomato juice into a big container to hold until you can pour it all back into the big stockpot.

7. When you’re done with all the tomatoes and have all the juice—pour the juice back in the big stockpot and put on the stove.

8. Bring the juice to a slow, gentle boil.

9. Let it boil for about 15-20 minutes.

10. In the meantime, you should have your quart jars sterilized (like in the dishwasher). --use whatever size jar you prefer)-- When sterilized, fill the jar with boiling hot water from your tea kettle (this is so when you add the tomato juice, the heat won’t bust the glass). Empty out the boiling water in the sink. (Open Kettle Method)

11. Boil your lids.

12. Now you can add your tomato juice to the jars.

13. Then take the Kerr lid out, dry it off and make sure the top of your Quart jar is clean. Put the Kerr lid on with the ring and you tighten it. 

Do steps 12 & 13 one at a time.

14. Set the jars on the counter. Let cool. Listen for the lid to “pop” and you know it is sealed.

Later…you can take off the rings and reuse it. You can’t reuse the lids (you would have to eat what was inside then and they would have already popped).