How to make tomato juice at home

Everyone who has ever grown tomatoes in their summer cottage sooner or later asks the question: “What to do with the remaining crop?”. After all, only the very first tomatoes are instantly eaten, while the rest can simply disappear if they are not used for food. Most of the remaining crop, of course, goes to spin. But only beautiful tomatoes of the correct form are closed in jars, and plain fruits are left to wait for their fate. And then many people remember tomato juice – the most favorite juice among our compatriots. How to make tomato juice at home will be discussed below.

The benefits of tomato juice

Tomato juice is not just a delicious drink. Its pleasant taste is harmoniously combined with a huge amount of useful vitamins and minerals. And cooking from self-grown fruits will only add to its benefits. But regardless of whether the fruits were purchased or their own “from the garden”, tomato juice will contain:

• vitamins A, B, C, E, H and group P;
• organic acids;
• carbohydrates;
• cellulose;
• minerals;
• antioxidants.

Tomato juice is the undisputed leader in the content of vitamin A and C. In fresh tomatoes and in juice from them, the concentration of these vitamins is greater than in carrots and grapefruit. In addition, it is the lowest calorie juice. One glass of this tasty drink contains only 36-48 calories, which makes it an excellent tool in the fight against extra pounds.

But the main benefit of this drink lies in the lycopene contained in it, a natural antioxidant. This substance is able to actively resist the emergence of cancer cells.

As a remedy, juice made from tomatoes will help with:

• obesity;
• slagging of the body;
• depression or nervous tension;
• diseases of the heart and blood vessels;
• diabetes and other diseases.

All packaged juices not only do not have beneficial properties, but can also be harmful. Therefore, they are recommended to be excluded from the diet or consumed in small quantities.

Making tomato juice at home

Many people think that making homemade tomato juice is quite difficult. In fact, it is no more difficult than making juice from any other vegetable or fruit. This does not require any special skills or culinary talent. There are many ways to make homemade tomato juice. We will talk about the most common of them.

How to choose tomatoes for juice

Of course, letting beautiful ripe tomatoes into the juice, especially when they were grown on their own, is blasphemy. Therefore, for tomato juice, you can choose fruits and worse.

Tomatoes intended for canning will not work for him: they have a hard skin and dense pulp. Tomatoes should be chosen only from those varieties in which the flesh is juicy and fleshy.

Do not throw away slightly spoiled tomatoes. Mashed, slightly burnt tomatoes are unable to negatively affect the taste of the finished product. But before using such fruits, all “doubtful” places should be cut out and thrown away.

The number of tomatoes is also important. So, to fill one glass, you only need 2 medium tomatoes, about 200 grams each. If more juice is needed, the proportions should be increased, for example, 10 kilograms of tomatoes at the output can produce about 8,5 liters of juice.

Tomato juice at home through a juicer

This method is perhaps the most popular and fastest. But it has one significant disadvantage – it is a large amount of waste.

Making delicious tomato juice with a juicer is a matter of a few minutes:

1. Tomatoes are washed with warm water.
2. Cut into 2 or 4 parts, depending on the size of the juicer neck. At this stage, the stalk of the tomato is also removed.
3. The resulting blanks are passed through a juicer.
4. Salt and sugar are added to the resulting ready-made drink to taste.

A sprig of this herbaceous plant can be dipped in juice or crushed in a blender and mixed with juice.

Making tomato juice without a juicer at home

To make tomato juice at home without a juicer, you have to tinker a bit. After all, what the juicer did, you have to do it yourself. But in this way, we can avoid a lot of waste and get thick tasty tomato juice.

The recipe for homemade tomato juice without a juicer is simple:

1. Tomatoes are washed with warm water. Cut into medium-sized pieces. Placed in a large saucepan or saucepan and simmer for about an hour on average. The specific cooking time depends on the density of the selected tomatoes. The main criterion for stopping cooking is the soft, boiled consistency of the tomatoes.

   

   Important! When preparing tomato juice without a juicer, there is one rule: in no case should you add water during the cooking process. You should wait until the tomatoes give liquid. At the same time, you need to stir them periodically.

   When the tomatoes have acquired the desired consistency, they are hot rubbed through a sieve.

   

2. Salt and sugar are added to the finished filtered drink to taste.

Before preparing a drink without a juicer, we recommend watching the video:

Tomato juice without a juicer is very thick, almost like puree. Therefore, before use, it is most often diluted with water. But, despite this, many note that the drink according to this recipe is much tastier than the drink prepared through a juicer. In addition, this tomato juice recipe not only preserves nutrients, but also increases the concentration of lycopene, a natural anti-cancer antioxidant.

Making tomato juice in a juicer

Before we tell you how to make tomato juice using a juicer, let’s tell you what kind of unit it is. At first glance, a juicer looks like several pots nested inside each other. But in fact, its structure is a little more intricate and includes four elements:

1. Capacity for water.
2. A container where the finished drink is collected.
3. Colander for fruits and vegetables.
4. Cap.

The principle of operation of the juicer is based on the steam effect on vegetables. The steam that rises from the heated water container causes the vegetables or fruits to release juice, which flows into the juice collector. From the juice collector, the finished product is drained through a special tube.

To date, juice cookers are made of only two materials – stainless steel and aluminum. If possible, preference should be given to a stainless steel juice cooker. It has increased resistance to mechanical stress, is not affected by aggressive environments and is suitable for any type of cooking surfaces.

In order to prepare a drink in a juicer, you must follow a simple algorithm of actions:

1. Tomatoes are washed and cut into small pieces.
2. Chopped tomatoes are placed in a colander for fruits and vegetables.
3. Water is poured into the bottom container of the juicer. As a rule, there is a mark on the inner surface of the container indicating the required water level.
4. A container of water is placed on a stove heated to a strong fire. The remaining parts of the juicer are placed on top of the container: a juice collector, a colander with tomatoes and a lid.
5. The average time for preparing tomato juice in this way is 40 – 45 minutes. After this time, it is drained from the juice collector and filtered.

   

6. Salt and sugar are added to the finished drink.

Closing tomato juice for the winter

A freshly squeezed drink can retain its beneficial properties for only a few hours, and then if you put it in the refrigerator. Therefore, if there are a lot of substandard tomatoes left from the crop, then it would be more rational to close the tomato juice for the winter.

To make this drink for a winter twist, you can choose any recipe from the ones discussed above. But if it is prepared with a juicer, then it will need to be additionally cooked. In this case, foam will form on the surface, which must be removed.

The opinions of gardeners and culinary specialists on the need for mandatory sterilization of cans for tomato drink vary greatly. Someone successfully closes jars without any sterilization, someone considers this procedure mandatory. We will talk about each of the ways.

To spin this drink without sterilization, the cans must be thoroughly washed. After that, they should be placed with the neck down so that all the water is completely drained from them. Boiled tomato juice is poured into completely dry jars and rolled up.

Sterilization of jars can be carried out in several ways:

1. The first method involves sterilizing the jars in the oven at a temperature not exceeding 150 degrees. At the same time, you don’t need to keep them there for a long time, 15 minutes is enough.
2. The second method of sterilization is a water bath. As in the previous method, 15 minutes is enough for complete sterilization. After that, the jars must be dried, putting them upside down.

The finished drink in sterilized jars is closed in the same way as in non-sterilized ones. Closed jars are turned upside down and left in this state until completely cooled.

Thus, having spent just a little time, you can not only use the remaining tomato crop, but also stock up on a tasty and healthy drink.