Make your own tomato juice

Tomatoes are now in full production and if you have a glut there are a number of ways to preserve your crop. One way to do so is to make your own refreshing and healthy tomato juice and freeze it. Your juice can be defrosted for drinking or used in cooking.

If you have made your own tomato juice before you will be surprised that the colour is not as red as commercial juice. To redden your juice you can add a cooked beetroot for every 3kg of tomatoes.

Thoroughly wash your ripe tomatoes, cut out any bruises or blemishes, quarter and cook for about 20 minutes in a pan to which 1 cup of water and the finely cut beetroot has been added. Whilst cooking, use a masher to squash the tomatoes. Salting is not a requirement and is entirely dependent on your taste buds.

Once cooled, strain the tomatoes through a cheesecloth or fine mesh to remove all the seeds and pulp from the juice and then squeeze the pulp to ensure all the juice is extracted. Freeze the juice in sterilised containers, leaving enough room for expansion. Or alternatively, freeze into ice cubes to use for cooking. And don't discard the pulp, if you don't want to use it immediately you can freeze it and use it to add to soups or stews.

For a variation to your juice, you can add onions, carrots or celery during the cooking stage.