Canning Tomato Juice

Friends. I love canning produce. As kids we grew up spending the majority of our Summer season away from the melting Arizona heat and soaking up the most beautiful Summer season made, in Colorado. Our mom is from a little town named, Swink.. It's where life is slow, small town songs make sense and preserving food for Winter is a regular part of the rhythm. 

As I get older, I savor those memories and I crave not only the taste of the foods that we picked before we canned and froze them but the fragrances that fill the house and the memories tied to them. This Summer I invited a handful of girlfriends over to our sweet little home so that my mom could not only re-fresh my memory of the how-to's but also teach the little crew that attended how to can tomato juice. YUM. I mean don't get me wrong, the house get's all kinds of STANK for tomato preservation but come December when everything is dead and cold outside and it's worth every second of work and well, smell. 

Enjoy! And message with questions. 

SUPPLIES:
Jars | Lids | Rings | 1 or 2 Large Pots | Canning Salt | 1 Skillet or 2 Quart Size Pans for Sterilizing Jars + Lids | 2 Qt Stainless Food Mill | Knives | 1 Very Large Bowl | Wooden Spoon | Delicious fresh TOMATOES... We get ours from the local farmers market (pst by local I mean often from Swink, CO or Rocky Ford, CO Farms)

THE HOW TO:
Wash the jars and rings - you don't need to dry them (make sure you never use cracked jars)
Put tomatoes in warm water in the sink to wash
*If you are canning tomatoes as well as the juice also reserve the small tomatoes.
Wash, Core (remove center) and quarter tomatoes leaving the peel on
Place in a large bowl
Fill the large pot with tomatoes up to 2" from the top
Squeeze some of them to make juice in the bottom of the pot
Turn on Medium heat until it gets warm and be mindful to stir it with your wooden spoon at first so that the liquid doesn't stick to the bottom of your pot
When warm, turn up heat to medium/high and bring to a boil. (Before tomatoes boil, you may add a few more as they settle in) Boil until whole pot of tomatoes is mushy (about 25 minutes- based on pan and type of range)
Place food mill (grinder) over a pan and pour the boiled tomato mush juice through the grinder.
Grind and put juice in your second pot. 
Bring this juice to a boil on high for one minute, stirring a few times.

STERILIZATION OF POTS
Put your pans (2 Qt) or skillet on the stove with 1/2"-1" water and bring to a boil. Put your jars and lids (top of jars down) in boiling water for three minutes. Make sure you do NOT touch the lids. Remove all pieces with tongs (jars can be removed by hand but use a tea-towl to keep from burning your hands. Lay all items on a towel beside stove top.
Pour 1 Tsp of canning salt into sterilized jar
Pour juice of tomatoes into the salted jar without touching the rim of the top. You can fill it to almost the top.
Place flat part of lid on to jar with tongs
Place ring on the jar and twist on tightly
Set aside
In a few hours all of your jars should be popped at the top and that's how you know it's sealed. They'll make a noise too!  If the "button" doesn't pop at top of the jar by the next day, you'll want to open and either use immediately or throw out. It didn't seal properly.

Enjoy this fun, Summer "chore"... It totally pays of come winter! I promise.