Canning tomato juice is so easy! This step-by-step photo tutorial will show you how to can homemade tomato juice in no time.
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One of the ways that I stay within our $200/mo. grocery budget is by preserving lots of fruits and vegetables. Gardening is a great way to save money, but we live in the city so we don’t have room for much of a garden.
However, we’re blessed to live in an area where we can get lots of beautiful, homegrown produce for great prices. So instead of growing my own, I simply buy large amounts of produce from local growers and then preserve it for us to enjoy all year long.
One of the things that I enjoy making with tomatoes is homemade tomato juice. We love using it for homemade Cream of Tomato Soup and I also use it in various other recipes too.
Want to try making your own tomato juice and can it too? Let me walk you through the process!
Canning Tomato Juice (a step-by-step tutorial)
THE SUPPLIES YOU’LL NEED:
- Tomatoes (obviously!)
- Salt (optional)
- Citric Acid or bottled lemon juice
- Dishpan or containers to put the tomatoes in
- Knife (this brand is my favorite)
- Large kettle
- Long spoon to stir tomatoes
- Ladel for transferring tomatoes and juice
- Food Mill or Victorio Strainer or blender and strainer
- Wide Funnel
- Damp rag to wipe tops of jars
- Small pan to boil jar lids in
- Fork or Lid Wand
- Canner
- Canning jars with lids and bands
- Jar lifter
- Old towels or rags to set the hot jars on
(If you are new to canning and need to buy both the jar lifter and a funnel, it’s cheaper to get this Canning Essentials Set.)
1. Wash tomatoes thoroughly. Cut out the stem and any defects or blemishes, but there’s absolutely no need to peel them! Yay, for keeping things easy. 🙂
2. Cut tomatoes into chunks for quicker cooking. Dump into a kettle and then use your hand (or a potato masher) to squish a few tomatoes in the bottom of the kettle to get enough juice to start cooking the tomatoes without having them stick to the bottom of the kettle.
As the tomatoes cook, they will start to juice themselves and you’ll soon have more liquid. Cook on medium heat, stirring several times being sure to move the tomatoes on the bottom to the top for even cooking.
3. Cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
4. At this point, you have several options for turning the cooked tomatoes into juice. I’m going to explain the process I use and then include details for other methods at the bottom of this post in the Notes.
Fill the “pan” part of the Food Mill with cooked tomatoes and then turn the handle to juice them. Continue turning, occasionally reversing the direction to clean the tomatoes off the bottom.
5. Once there is basically no juice coming out anymore and you have very little peel and seeds left in the food mill pan (it should look something like what I show above), discard the scraps.
I actually often pour the scraps into a cake pan and after it’s full, I’ll run them all through the food mill again. I like really thick, pulpy juice and I’ve found that by doing this, I get a pulpier juice. But it is definitely just personal preference and you definitely can toss the scraps immediately if you prefer!
6. Pour juice into clean canning jars- a wide funnel makes this super easy. The jars should be filled just to the base of the neck.
7. Add Citric Acid or bottled lemon juice to each jar (¼ tsp. citric acid or 1 Tbsp. lemon juice per pint / ½ tsp. citric acid or 2 Tbsp. lemon juice per quart) to create a safe level of acidity. If you are like me and prefer your juice salted, also add ½ tsp. salt per pint and 1 tsp. salt per quart.
Wipe rim of each jar with a clean, damp cloth to remove any tomato residue that may be there. (If there is even a slight bit of tomato juice on it, it may not allow it to seal properly.)
8. Once you have 7 jars filled, place 7 metal canning lids in a small pan. Cover with water; bring to a boil. Once the water boils, use a fork to lift the jar lids out of the water- be careful not to burn yourself!- and place them on the jars.
(You can also purchase a lid wand that uses a magnet to lift the lids more easily.) Secure each lid with a jar band/ring. (Heating the lids softens the rubber, allowing for a better seal.)
I read recently that some of the newer lids actually recommend that you don’t boil them, so you probably should double check the instructions on the box of lids before doing this step.
9. Place 7 jars in canner. Fill with enough hot water to almost cover the jars. Turn the burner on medium high heat. Once water starts to boil, reduce heat slightly and process: 35 minutes for pints and 40 minutes for quarts.
Make sure the water is boiling gently and steadily the whole time. (You may need to adjust heat to keep the boil going nicely, but really, as long as it is boiling, you are fine.)
10. After processing is complete, turn the burner off. Remove jars using the jar lifter– you may want to have a dishrag in your other hand to catch any hot water that drips from the jars as you remove them- and place on an old towel, blanket or another padded surface. (This protects your countertop from the super hot jars.)
Allow at least a little bit of air space around each jar, making sure not to have jars close enough to touch. Do not move jars again until they are completely cool.
Jars should seal as they cool and you will typically hear a snap or pinging sound as the vacuum seal is formed. Lids will be slightly concave when sealed.
To test the seal, allow the jar to cool completely, then lightly tap the center of the cooled jar lid. If it is firm and does not move, it should be sealed. If it pushes in, it didn’t seal properly. You can still use unsealed jars, just put them in the refrigerator and use them as soon as possible.
After jars are completely cool, you can remove the rings. Jars should be wiped clean before storing.
Enjoy!
NOTES:
- You can also make juice by putting the cooked tomatoes through a Victorio Strainer (also makes great homemade applesauce!). This is the method my mom used when I was a child and helped her make juice. It’s faster than using a Food Mill but it also splatters a lot and since the counter that I have to clamp it onto is white (as well as the cupboards surrounding it), I opted to not go this route.You can also use a blender and strainer method. To do this, simply blend about a quart of cooked tomatoes at a time until pureed and then pour through a strainer to remove seeds and remaining bits of peel. I have never tried this method but would imagine it would work well, although it might be more time consuming and may possibly make a thinner juice.
- If for some reason you open a jar of juice and don’t need to use the full amount, simply put the remainder in a freezer safe container and freeze it to use later.
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Debbie says
How many tomatoes do you need? I want to make some pints with the tomatoes I have.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Debbie, you can use however many tomatoes you want. It’s hard to say how many tomatoes make a certain amount of juice because tomato size and juiciness of tomatoes vary so much. I typically just cook up whatever amount of tomatoes I have. Sorry that I can’t be more specific. And just a tip- if you have a tiny bit of juice leftover after filling pint jars, freeze it and add to soup sometime.
Hayley says
How long do the sealed juice jars last? Do you store them in the refrigerator?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
They last for at least a year. And I’ve actually had them for longer than that as well. Think of them as canned food like you’d buy at the store—that’s basically what it is, just that you are canning them yourself. And no, you don’t need to refrigerate your jars until you open them. They are sealed tight and will be fine at room temp.
Aseiter says
Thanks for your post
How to you use these jars of juice? Doesn’t the juice separate in the jars?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Yes, the juice does separate a bit over time, but it’s not really an issue. If I’m not going to use the whole jar at once, I just shake good before I open it and that mixes it sufficiently. I love using this juice to make a homemade cream of tomato soup. I also have a couple of chili recipes that call for tomato juice as well as a few other recipes that use tomato juice as well. Some people even like to just drink it plain…or they’ll add a few things to it to make it like a V8 juice.
Oh and if I don’t use the whole jar at once, I just pour the remaining juice into a freezer safe container and freeze it. If I have no other use for the leftovers, I’ll add it to soup. It adds great flavor!
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Jill says
Juice also separates in the store bought cans as well, you just can’t see it because it’s in a metal can. I just shake the jars up before I open it up and use.
Debbie Steele says
Have you ever added a blend of herbs to this recipe. my Mom used to add them but on her recipe i have it doesn’t say what herbs and how much> Do you have any suggestions? I drank this when I had a bout of GI virus and its the only thing that helps. MY Mom is no longer with me.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Debbie, I haven’t ever done it, but I know people that make a homemade V8 juice using tomato juice. Do you think that might be what you mom made? It typically has some seasonings and often some other veggies cooked with the tomatoes too. I just Googled “Homemade V8 juice recipe” and a whole slew of them came up. Maybe you could do that and see if you can find something that looks like it might have the same flavor as what you remember. Hope you can figure something out!
Jill says
My mom shakes in a little store bought, dried oregano into her juice. It’s oh so little. She doesn’t go crazy shaking it into her batch before she puts it in (maybe a teaspoon?) and stirs before she pours into jars. It doesn’t strongly change the juice, but I think it gives it just a little more flavor. Basil would be good too. Whatever your taste and preference I think would be fine.
Jill says
My mom has made tomato juice extremely similar to this and I always get my juice from her. Rarely do I buy from the store. It is THE BEST. It’s sweeter and soups, and whatever I make with it just taste better in my opinion. I am glad you posted this because as mom is getting into her mid 70’s and she just does not like to do as much as she has in the past. So I want to take this on and carry the tradition forward. And that includes her jams, pies, bread. roasts…..I almost have her techniques down….
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Ah, what a gift that you have a mom who loves to share her canned goods with you! And I agree, I think that the homemade juice is better- but maybe we’re just really biased. 🙂 So glad that this tutorial can help you carry on your mom’s tradition! It’s a good one to continue in my opinion and you are so wise to learn her tricks and techniques now. We wish that we would have done that more with my grandmother before she had to move to an assisted living facility.
Julie says
Do you use table salt or canning salt?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
I use regular table salt, but you can use canning salt too. I think the biggest difference is that canning salt is supposed to not cause cloudiness where as table salt can make things looks a little bit cloudy. To be honest though, I’ve never noticed! 🙂 And, table salt is cheaper, so….
Margaret says
Very good! Made 8-23-2018
ThriftyFrugalMom says
So glad you liked it, Margaret!
Carol Redman says
I canned tomato juice last night, it was about 11pm when I took the jars out of the canner. This morning I discovered one jar did not seal, is it still safe to use even though it sat out til 9 am. I’d appreciate your opinion.
ThriftyFrugalMom says
If it was me, I’d put in the fridge and use it before long. In my mind, it’s no different than if you’d leave tomatoes sitting out. But…you need to do whatever you feel comfortable with and I’m sure there would food safety experts that would say you should throw it out.
Cheryl Dreilich says
Can you use a juicer once the tomatoes are cooked?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
I would think so! I’ve never used a juicer, but I assume that it does the same thing as the Victoria Strainer.
Beverly says
Can I use a pressure cooker?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
I’m so sorry for the slow reply- we’re preparing to move overseas and things have been a bit hectic. You can’t use a pressure cooker to can. There are pressure canners that are made specifically for canning, but canning in a regular pressure cooker would result in a disaster.
Jill says
This recipe is the best! My husband’s grandma and grandpa use to give us homemade tomato juice, but he has passed and she no longer does it. We both love their tomato juice and I’ve wanted to try to do it myself for some time but to be honest, canning always seems a bit scary. This recipe is accessible to even a novice canner! We will most definitely be trying some of your other recipes.
Side note- I used an immersion blender to cut down on transferring the tomatoes and it worked very well!
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Jill, I’m so glad that you can enjoy homemade tomato juice again! And I love your idea of using an immersion blender. So smart!
Margie says
Can you tell me how to make soup out of this juice?
ThriftyFrugalMom says
Sure, Margie! This is the recipe that my mom and Grandmother both used and that we love. It’s quite thin, but we love eating it with crackers or toasted cheese sandwiches.
Old Fashioned Tomato Soup
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
4 cups tomato juice
1 Tbsp. minced onion (I use the dried flakes, but sometimes I just sprinkle in some onion powder instead)
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
4 cups Milk
1/8 tsp. pepper
Melt butter.
Add flour, sugar, salt, pepper and celery salt and minced onion.
Add milk gradually and stir until thickened.
In a separate pan heat tomato juice until it is about the same temperature as the milk.
Add tomato juice to milk slowly and stir.
If milk and tomatoes are both near boiling point and tomatoes are added slowly, it will not curdle.
Should it curdle, beat briskly with and egg beater.
Serves 6.