Tomato Juice

The tomato garden is exploding red, orange and yellow. We've been picking gorgeous tomatoes in every shade from eight or more different varietals. Thanks to these record NC temperatures, they are actually hot to the touch and taste already broiled fresh off the vine. We've been making salsas, eating them sliced for every meal, sauces and juicing. The tomato juice is my favorite, so I wanted to share some images of what my dad and I juiced today. 

The basket above is what I picked today. 

The yellow and little green ones you see are ripe, even though they aren't red. Just a different kind of varietal. 

Start by cleaning, cutting and boiling down the tomatos to soften the skin. 

When the skins start to fall off, you're ready to juice. 

Transfer the slightly cook tomatos to a stainer and mush down the tomatoes to get all their yummy juices. You don't use the pulp for the juice. I save the pulp to make tomato stock for cooking rice or lentils, a few tablespoons added to fresh chopped tomatoes also helps to make fabulous salas. 

Simmer down the juice and add a few pinches of salt, a splash of Worcestershire sauce and some lemon juice. Think of all the ingredients you'd find in a bottle of V8. This homemade juice tastes a thousand times better and has hardly any ingredients. 

You don't have to simmer the juice for long, just a few minutes on low temps. Then using a funnel pour the hot juice into large jars and refrigerate. 

Drink when chilled. Great for breakfasts or add a shot of Absolute Pepper vodka and serve in a martini glass with the rim dusted with Old Bay and impress your Bloody Mary drinking friends with a Tomato Juice Martini. You can call it a Bloody Mary Elizabeth :-)