We drink a lot of tomato juice. But with the sodium issues here, last year I tried my hand at making my own. It’s tomato juice season again. And everything else tomato!

With the right equipment, this has proven to be super easy! The hardest part is cutting the tomatoes. If you can get your hands on a turkey roaster or a few crockpots and a strainer, there is really no work to it – just getting up the gumption to make more

This last picture is my strainer attachment on my old Oster Kitchen Center, which is no longer available, but they do offer an attachment for the KitchenAid or one of these hand powered ones would work, too.

Let’s get busy! Wash, core, quarter tomatoes and place in crockpots or turkey roaster. One half bushel fits in the 3 crockpots above or the turkey roaster. Using the crockpots or the roaster lets them cook without babysitting to keep from scorching

Simmer for about 6 hours. I’ve read studies that cooking tomatoes increases the levels of lycopene in the tomato, so I prepared them this way this year. The flavor is so much richer, too.

While keeping the roaster on (to keep the tomatoes up to temp), process through the strainer. I do 1 gallon at a time.

Per each quart jar, add 2 Tablespoons bottled lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon canning salt (if desired, salt is not required).

Fill jars with hot tomato juice, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a hot water bath for 40 minutes at sea-level or 15 minutes in a pressure canner. See the National Center for Home Preservation (NCFHP) for pint or your sea-level processing times.

I use 1 gallon of juice at a time — fill 1 jar, debubble, wipe rim, adjust lids and place in canner of hot water. I also use the pressure canner to process my tomatoes, as it processes faster.

Something else I figured out — well, it was John’s suggestion! I restrain the peels and seeds. From one load of tomatoes, I was left with this amount of “garbage” on the first run through the strainer.

After restraining it, I ended up with about 1/2 the amount of “garbage” and 1 1/2 pints of thick sauce! I prepared the sauce (the 1/2 pint I refrigerated for some pasta later) the same way as the juice and processed together.

With this one 1/2 bushel of tomatoes:

8 quarts of tomato juice

1 1/2 pints of thick sauce

2 cups of “garbage” to be dehydrated later for tomato powder (like I use in mixes)

All of this for about 45 minutes of actual work — simmering and canning time doesn’t count — I was sleeping while they were simmering!

So much better than store bought!

Here's the full recipe and printable!

See all my Cooking Recipes!