HomemadeTomato-Vegetable Juice

Who loves V8? I do! For those unsure what I'm even talking about, the V8 I'm talking about has nothing to do with cars, and everything to do with tomato-vegetable juice. After a hefty harvest of tomatoes, I was determined to make some of my own V8 juice, and now I'm going to show you how I did it.

The recipe I used came out of the Ball Blue Book Of Preserving under the title "Tomato Garden Juice Blend."  The recipe makes 7 quarts, but mine made 9 quarts and some.  I'm assuming that's because my weighing of the tomatoes was not extremely accurate.  The recipe juices the tomatoes in a food processor or food mill, but I don't have either of those, so I used my good ol' Blendtec blender.  It pulverizes so well that when I poured the mixture through a strainer there was not a piece of peel or seed to be found.  That means I had no need to strain the liquid, kinda nice to be able to skip a step.

Homemade Tomato Garden Juice Blend

from: Ball Blue Book of preserving

• 22 lbs. tomatoes
• 3/4 c. diced carrots
• 3/4 c. chopped celery
• 3/4 c. chopped green pepper
• 1/2 c. chopped onion (I used red)
• 1/4 c. chopped parsley
• 1 Tbs. salt (optional)
• Bottled lemon juice

Wash Tomatoes; drain.  Remove core and blossom ends.  Cut into quarters.  Combine tomatoes and vegetables in a large saucepot (or several large pots like I did); simmer 20 minutes, stirring to prevent sticking.  Juice tomatoes in a food processor or food mill, then strain juice to remove peels and seeds.  Stir in salt, if desired.  Heat juice 5 minutes at 190 degrees Fahrenheit.  Do not boil.  Add 1 Tbs. bottled lemon juice to each pint jar, 2 tablespoons bottled lemon juice to each quart jar.  Ladle hot juice into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Adjust two piece caps.  Process pints 35 minutes, quarts 40 minutes, in a boiling water canner.

And for those who like a love pretty pictures put to music, enjoy the slideshow below. ;)

This free slideshow customized with Smilebox Sharing: Tuesday Garden Party, Garden Tuesday, The Homestead Barn Hop, 2014 Harvest Hop