Home canning: Changing up my tomato sauce

[starshinesis]

I've long canned tomato juice, but recently I've wondered if I can can more of a V8 type of juice. I'm thinking about using my juicer to make carrot, celery, cabbage, spinach and bell peppers juice to mix in before I heat and can tomato juice. (I will have to figure out the right ratios.) Any other suggestions on things to add to increase taste or health benefits?

I also want to add avocado to the mix because I need to get as much omega 3s as possible in the diet for my boys and I. Would it be better to send the avocado through the juicer or use a blender? Will avocado be safe to preserve like tomatoes? I would hate to can a lot of juice this way to then later have it spoil. Thanks for any help.

 

[Chuck]

I've long canned tomato juice, but recently I've wondered if I can can more of a V8 type of juice. I'm thinking about using my juicer to make carrot, celery, cabbage, spinach and bell peppers juice to mix in before I heat and can tomato juice. (I will have to figure out the right ratios.) Any other suggestions on things to add to increase taste or health benefits?

I also want to add avocado to the mix because I need to get as much omega 3s as possible in the diet for my boys and I. Would it be better to send the avocado through the juicer or use a blender? Will avocado be safe to preserve like tomatoes? I would hate to can a lot of juice this way to then later have it spoil. Thanks for any help.

I might be a little leery about canning avacados as they have quite a bit of oil in them. I think you should maybe get in touch with Ball on this. As far everything else you mentioned I have done it for years with no problem

 

[Mockingbird]

I've long canned tomato juice, but recently I've wondered if I can can more of a V8 type of juice. I'm thinking about using my juicer to make carrot, celery, cabbage, spinach and bell peppers juice to mix in before I heat and can tomato juice. (I will have to figure out the right ratios.) Any other suggestions on things to add to increase taste or health benefits?

I also want to add avocado to the mix because I need to get as much omega 3s as possible in the diet for my boys and I. Would it be better to send the avocado through the juicer or use a blender? Will avocado be safe to preserve like tomatoes? I would hate to can a lot of juice this way to then later have it spoil. Thanks for any help.

You can't put avocado through the juicer, that's a no go. What you might want to add perhaps is some zucchini or summer squash if you have it. Kale, Collard greens and even parsley make great juice as well, but use in moderation. Cucumber and green pepper are also good choices, nice B vitamin and you do not have to peel the cuke.

I tend to make a lot of juice, I bought a juicer this past year and love it, but it seems from what I have read that you do not want to can fresh juice because a lot of the vitamins cook off in the sealing process. Now I do make my own canned tomato sauce and it is much better if I juice, sauce is not as thick as when I made it from the saucepan. It is amazing how much money you save juicing and canning. My grape jelly came out fantastic this year.

 

[starshinesis]

Thanks guys. I hadn't thought about calling Ball, but I bet they are a fantastic resource.
And thanks for the input on avocado. I wasn't sure if it would work or not.
I know that drinking fresh juice is much preferable because of its freshness, but for our busy household I can't get myself to pull out the juicer every time. Its easier for me to do a big batch cooking and then put it all in containers to use later.
I wonder if freezing the V8 type juice would work better. I'm thinking maybe that would preserve the vitamins better. I know it wouldn't be as good as fresh, but better than not having the other things mixed in.

 

[DancingLady]

If you are adding non-acid vegetables to the tomato juice you will need to use a pressure cooker. The risk of botulism is too high if you use just a regular canner. My family and many people I know have avoided canning non-acid foods entirely because of the risks involved. Please be very careful.

 

[starshinesis]

I was thinking that the acidity had something to do with it. My mom once had tomatoes that she said weren't acidic enough so she had to add vinegar when she canned them. Do you think freezing them would be a safer way if I'm adding non-acidic vegetables? Thanks for the warning and information.

 

[Chuck]

I was thinking that the acidity had something to do with it. My mom once had tomatoes that she said weren't acidic enough so she had to add vinegar when she canned them. Do you think freezing them would be a safer way if I'm adding non-acidic vegetables? Thanks for the warning and information.

I freeze mine in ice cube trays and when I want some I put them in the blender and end up with a smoothe

 

[Mockingbird]

Oh that's pretty smart Chuck now did you use a blender or an actual juicer? usually juicers have less pulp, way less so making a smoothy is different. Do you just use a plain ice tray? I thought of doing this with some vegetables to make a soup stock. Very nice to pop a few cubes in with some meat to make a nice sauce with dinner.

 

[Chuck]

Oh that's pretty smart Chuck now did you use a blender or an actual juicer? usually juicers have less pulp, way less so making a smoothy is different. Do you just use a plain ice tray? I thought of doing this with some vegetables to make a soup stock. Very nice to pop a few cubes in with some meat to make a nice sauce with dinner.

I use a juicer, pour the juice into ice trays, then a blender. I guess smoothe was the wrong word, probably should have said icey or frozen juicey. Same texture as frozen margarita

 

[Durgan]

I juice everything. My method is to obtain the produce, wash, cut into smaller pieces, place in a large pot, cover with water, cook until soft, hand blend into a slurry. Strain the slurry through a screen, food mill, then put the output of the food mill through a Champion Juicer to extract all nutrients. Discard the bit of residue which is mostly cellulose.

Place in liter jars and pressure can at 15 PSI for 15 minutes, usually in batches of seven for a 23 quart Presto. The jars will keep at room temperature for probably less than a year, I don't know exactly, since most is consumed in less than six months. I processed around 500 liter jars during the 2014 season.

For immediate use another raw method is to place the produce in a typical blender and add enough water to make drinkable, beat for a few minutes until homogeneous, and store in the refrigerator until needed in less than ten days, before it starts to grow mold. Experience has syndicated that cooked is far superior to raw and digestion is probably more complete. Do a google for durgan.org, since I cannot post links due to not enough posts for details.

 

[Mockingbird]

I juice everything. My method is to obtain the produce, wash, cut into smaller pieces, place in a large pot, cover with water, cook until soft,.

Correct me if I am wrong but don't heating the product actually degrade the vitamin content? I get your goal it is to have product you can can and have later, and that's fine and very admirable. We all juice for different reasons. I do it mostly to infuse the body in the best unadulterated vitamins and minerals I possibly can. I do can my own too, but just wanted to be clear about the cooking part. Do you do any herbal teas or anything with herbs besides drying or butters?

 

[Durgan]

Vitamin reduction by this process, I do not know.

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZJWVZ 24 August 2014 Tomato Juice
Eighty pounds of tomatoes were picked and 40 pounds was made into 23 liters of tomato juice. Two liters of water was added to each pot for cooking and to thin for drinking.Two batches were made and the remained 40 pounds will be processed later. The residue from the food processed straining was put through a Champion Juicer and saved for a nice thick tomato soup.The liter jars were pressure canned in seven liter batches at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. Annotated pictures depict the process.

 

[Durgan]

http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ZUFLP 18 July 2012 Tomato Juice(beets,okra,egg plant,celery,basil,parsley,dill)
Thirty pounds of tomatoes were picked and were made into juice flavoured with other mature produce from the garden.Beets are added to enhance the tomato colour.The other ingredient are to enhance flavour, and they were available. Two batches had to be processed due to the quantity being too much for my current pots. From the two batches a total of 17 liters of juice was obtained. Annotated photographs depict the process.