I don't own a Vitamix or a Blendtec, although I've seen them demoed a number of times, but based on what I've seen them do, I'd imagine they could pulverize the heck out of anything, including tomato skins and seeds if given enough time to whir around. Those blades are insanely fast, but if you want an uncooked juice, I'm not sure how it'll work, since the blades will actually create hot soup when left to run long enough.

My guess, and it's just a guess, is that if it can do this to an iPhone 4, it'll probably handle tomatoes pretty well.

Will it blend?

Here is a link that might be useful: Will it blend?

I regularly use a blender when making tomato juice and I make between 20 and 40 quarts a year.

I know you are interested in saving work and time by being able to use the entire tomato but I've tried that and I have to tell you that seeds, skin, and the white core detract rather than add to the taste of the juice. Not only that, but there are sometimes nasty things and spots of rot hiding inside what looks to be a perfectly normal tomato.

I've also used both a Victorio and Squeezo Straino juicer
to try to make juice. I actually have a electric motor powered Squeezo which I no longer use. The resulting juice is just to watery for my taste.

There follows how I make my juice and I urge you to try it. I believe you'll find that no nicer tasting thick juice can be bought or found anywhere!

1) Scald, skin, cut out core and any bad spots, cut in half
or thirds to ensure no internal defects, and put into a large pot.

2) When finished cleaning tomatoes bring pot to boil, stir
occasionally to prevent burning on bottom, and hold at a full rolling boil for 5 minutes minimum. You will notice an
acrid odor comes off the boiling tomatoes as they stew up.
This is a decomposition product that is caused by the boiling. The juice tastes MUCH BETTER ONCE RID OF THIS!!!

3) Now you have hot stewed tomatoes. Ladle this into a typical blender (an Oster is fine), make sure the cover is on securely and the pour spout is sealed closed and let the blender run at about 1/2 speed for maybe 20 seconds.

4) Pour the hot thick juice and seeds into a food mill/strainer and turn the paddle slowly BACKWARDS so as to
lift seeds and any hard unripe pulp up off the screen and
not force it through. I do this over a second big pot and
eventually it will be full of hot juice.

5) Discard the seeds and heavy pulp from the food mill and
continue.

6) I put 1 500 mg tablet of vitamin C and a teaspoon of salt into each quart jar, seal up and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes or a bit longer.

7) Cool, store, and then enjoy chilled before serving.

wow thanks for the quick replies!
@Spag - someone has too much time - funny video!
@Larry - thanks for the advice on improving taste - You have good points there
@Dave - thanks for the reminder on Harvest forum. In my zone, not much harvesting for me yet but I will go over there and read some. I think my husband will drink this juice as fast I can make it so I do not think I will be preserving it more than a few days so no worries. But great for you to post the NCHFP link!!

Dave (et al),

I used processing time data from the Ball Blue Book, page 41, tomato juice hot pack. Remember, by skinning, coring, and internally inspecting the tomatoes the great bulk of spoilage material has already been rejected, then we boil for the period of time necessary to make stewed tomatoes.

An alternative processing time which I use regularly because I have a pressure canner is as follows:

1. Pack hot juice into jars with the vitamin C tablet and salt and seal up.
2. When pressure cooker is filled with jars add HOT
   water (or recycle HOT water from the prior batch processed)
   to about the 1/2 level on the jars.
3. Fire up the pressure cooker till steam blows in full stream from the vent for a minute or so.
4. Close the vent on the pressure cooker and raise the pressure to 5 pounds.
5. When the pressure reaches 5 pounds on the pressure cooker turn off the heat BUT DO NOT BREAK THE SEAL ON THE
   COOKER LID!!!!!
6. Allow the pressure cooker to fully cool to zero, THAT'S ZERO, INTERNAL PRESSURE! Only when the gauge says
   zero (or reads down a bit into vacuum on some gauges) do
   you open the vent to vent the cooker interior.
7. After venting the cooker to ZERO internal pressure
   you may now remove the lid and the contents.

I regularly use this latter process and find total cycle time to be between 15 to 20 minutes depending on the amount being processed.

Regarding citric acid, lemon juice, or Vitamin C tablets. Vitamin C is ascorbic acid. Read the table of contents on a jar or can of Campbell's tomato juice. Ascorbic acid
tastes better to me than Citric acid or lemon juice, and I have used all 3. The company I retired from made Citric acid and at one point in time I had managed to procure a lifetime and a half supply in a gallon jug. I found ascorbic acid works as well as an acidulant, tastes better,
and one gets the added benefit of the Vitamin content. This
recommendation applies only to those who are not allergic to Vitamin C and who know they can regularly take it without harm to their system. It is the same stuff that is in orange juice, for example.

I have over the years made over 1000 jars of tomato juice
with the processes and additives outlined above. I, my family, and friends have all consumed the juice without problem.

Howsoever, I am a faulted individual without profound powers of observation. My knowledge is limited and I confess to making numerous errors in judgement over my 75 years of struggle and compromise with life. No one should take my suggestions without thoroughly researching them
for worth, correctness, and safety lest they could easily get sick or injured even unto death!

Nuff said!

If you have a Kitchen Aid mixer, go and get the meat grinder and the juicer attachments. Juicer attaches to the meat grinder and meat grinder to the mixer.

We did a few years ago and it's great! Feed tomatoes down the chute (only effort is to cut them into small pieces) and the juice comes out one place and the seeds, skins and other bits come out the other. No blanching, peeling or anything like that needed.

I have something similar. I cut the tomatoes into pieces that will feed through a hole. The grinder squeezes juice, including some pulp, from the fruit. The It runs through a fine-mesh sieve with the seeds and skin coming out the end. I usually run the skin/seeds through twice.

Afterwards, I boil and then bottle.

Mike

Dave (et al),

I used processing time data from the Ball Blue Book, page 41, tomato juice hot pack.

Then you might want to invest in a newer Ball Blue Book Larry as that info hasn't been in the BBB for over 20 years now. At least 5 revised editions have come out since it was.

Research and testing are ongoing and things change. Many processes from decades ago hae subsequently been proven to be unsafe. But each of us decides the level of risk we are willing to take.

Dave

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum! I got my Vitamix 5200 last year from Costco and I am blown away by how incredible it is. I use it just about every day now. I can't believe I can make my own ice cream and almond milk! The vegetable cocktails are amazing. I'm developing a product that has to do with Vitamix. Send me any question you have related to the Vitamix blender via this link http://vitamix5200.org/question and I'll send you a free copy of the product when it is finished. I want to make sure I answer everyone's questions! Really excited to hear your responses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vitamix 5200

I'm making sauce for the first time this year, and I'm using whole tomatoes, including skins and seeds. I cut the big ones in a couple pieces first, so I can see if there's something yucky inside. And so I can sample each one. Then I just throw them in a pot. I put the smaller cherries in whole, and mush them later, since it would be way too much work to cut all those. The sauce is turning out really good. Way better than anything I've gotten from the grocery store. I think a lot of the nutrition is in the skins, so I decided to leave them in. And it's also an extra step, so it just saves time not dealing with it.

Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum! I got my Vitamix 5200 last year from Costco and I am blown away by how incredible it is. I use it just about every day now. I can't believe I can make my own ice cream and almond milk! The vegetable cocktails are amazing. I'm developing a product that has to do with Vitamix. Send me any question you have related to the Vitamix blender via this link http://vitamix5200.org/question and I'll send you a free copy of the product when it is finished. I want to make sure I answer everyone's questions! Really excited to hear your responses.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vitamix 5200

Hi new member from yesterday and welcome if you wish to actually participate. But please don't SPAM our forums. If you want input and suggestions and sales for your book writing feel free to post a question about cooking with a Vitamix on the appropriate forum. Your website is merely a ruse to collect our tips and email addresses.

Dave

I am the OP - thanks for the replies, spam and all LOL. Nice this forum does not get too much spam. Well, in the end I ended up coring and seeding the toms and we have used about half in sauce to eat right away and half of them I have simply frozen. We do not mind the skin in sauce, so did not remove but I agree the removal of the seeds is good idea. Still have lots of fresh for cooking and salads, so have not needed the frozen - but from what I see on the harvest forum, the skin will be falling off the frozen ones when they thaw.

I bought a refirbished vitamix from their website and use it for tomatoes to do salsa and juice. It's $379 but it was my best investment.

I've used a 'Juiceman Jr.' juicer to make my tomato juice for the past 8-9 years. Before that, I used a Squeezo strainer. The juicer is much less work, and was cheap, like $50 bucks. Last year, I bought a newer model because they now have a much wider shoot for dropping in the tomatoes, which means a lot less pre-cutting. The old one still works, too.

I find that I have to put tomatoes through twice, sometimes 3 times for certain kinds. But, it's not hard to do. The first time is great for juice, the 2nd is juice or pulp, the third makes thick pulp that is great for making homemade ketchup if so inclined, or you can just mix it back into the juice.

Wouldn't do it any other way now. I can juice a bushel of tomatoes start to finish, including washing them, in about 20 minutes.

I do somewhere between 60 and 100 quarts of juice most years, so that tells you this machine is pretty durable. I also use it to make cider in smaller amounts (I don't use that much, and don't have a good way to store it in quantity except canning, and cooking cider kind of mutes the flavor, IMO).

FYI For those who use ascorbic acid, I bought a 16 ounce jar of "Vitamin C Crystals" from Trader Joe's for something like $8.00, and it's great for canning. No mashing of tablets involved for preserving or keeping other fruits like peaches from browning because it's in crystals, and the 16 ounce container lasts forever!

Carla in Sac

Hi Dave,

Thanks for taking the time to write me and welcoming me into the community. My post wasn�t intended to be spam. I would love to share recipes that have worked for me as well as learn more from the community. My only intention in creating the book is to help others discover Vitamix like I have. I have found if you�re not a vegetarian or vegan or stumble upon the machine in Costco, at least my peers have never heard about it or "get" its value. I am hoping to connect with people who are just as passionate about it so I can share our stories with others. If it weren�t for Vitamix it�s close to impossible to take in all the nutrients we need each day. Maybe that�s nothing new to you, but for me it�s a really big deal. Remember I am a Vitamix newbie myself. But I�ve learned to make milk, eat more veggies via soups and drinks, healthy ice cream. It�s pretty incredible. So that�s where I am coming from. Hope this helps.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could believe "if it weren't for Vitamix it's close to impossible to take in all the nutrients we need each day." A normal diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables will do it. If you are too busy to eat an apple or a carrot, getting "all the nutrients we need each day" is not your only worry.

And the site that is linked to has nothing to do with a 'vitamix'. Yes, you get Ms Sawyer asking you what question you might have about the vitamix to help her with a book, but then you getanother 'lose weight fast' scheme.

HU
Is this a machine or??? What exactly is a steam juicer and how do you get both tomato sauce and tomato juice out at the same time?
Carla In Sac