Photos are below.
To date, this is the easiest method for processing tomatoes.
- Prep tomatoes by rinsing and cutting in half (and veggies if you like a V8 kind of juice and sauce).
- Put in crock pot on high until clear liquid is visible and veggies are cooked tender.
- Prep containers for tomato juice. I use wide mouth canning jars because you can throw these in the freezer.
- Place a canning funnel on top of one container and place a sieve on top of the canning funnel. My FAVORITE sieve is one that the handle broke off because it does not fall out of the funnel.
- Remove the clear liquid with a solid food measuring cup and run liquid through sieve and funnel to fill containers. This is your juice. You can add salt, lemon, sugar... then chill.
- When you cannot remove any more liquid, cool the solids by removing the crock from the crock pot and placing on a cooling rack.
- Process cooled solids through a food mill. Scoop out with the same measuring cup used for the juice to save on dishes. Use these solids are tomato sauce.
Personal note: In my lifetime I have owned a very expensive Kitchen Aide mixer with all the attachments plus an expensive Squeezo, however I have sold them because I love my $50.00 OXO Good Grips Food Mill so much.
This mill does take some getting used to how it latches and the order things go, but it far surpasses everything I have owned so far:
- My Kitchen Aide I had to stand on a ladder to get high enough to put items in and the "pusher" sent tomatoes everywhere in the kitchen.
- The Squeezo leaked at every joint and I still had to stand on a step to reach the hopper comfortably.
I use my OXO Good Grips Food Mill by placing it in my sink over a large bowl. It is easy to add solids to and work the crank working from above. You will need to do small batches, but it is worth it. To top all this off, IT IS DISHWASHER SAFE. Crank it in both directions to get the most out of your solids. Remember to compost the remains!
Blackberries below.
Parts of the food mill.
