Tomato Juice

You like tomato juice but don’t like paying $4.30 for a 1.89 Liter bottle?

Make your own!

For my first attempt I used a 28 oz (800 ml) can of crushed tomatoes. Normal price $0.99 at my local No Frills supermarket. I have a feeling that I’ve picked them up on special for $0.67.

The original tomato juice bottle is washed, rinsed and dried, and stands behind the salt, crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, chili, black pepper, basil, parsley, curry and garlic salt.

And no, I don’t recommend you use all of these; my tendency is to toss in a bit of whatever is handy.

I emptied the can of crushed tomatoes into the blender, which leaves the can with a residue of tomato pulp.

All measurements are of level teaspoons. Here I am working my way from left to right, adding a level teaspoon of salt.

A teaspoon of basil and a teaspoon of parsley were dropped into a mug, topped up with hot water, brought to the boil in the microwave, and steeped for five minutes before being strained into the can.

I added four sachets of sugar to the can.

I added a teaspoon each of ground black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.

The can is now half-full with a spicy tea. I stirred it and used the teaspoon to bring down tomato pulp from the side of the can. I’m stingy!

Added to the 28 oz of pulp in the blender, this took the blender contents from 0.75 liters to 1.25 liters.

Blended and funneled into a temporary storage jar, I then added a can of water into the empty blender and blended that to rinse the blades. (See also “stingy” above).

After a gentle shake of the storage jar I was ready to funnel the mix into the original tomato juice bottle.

Perfect volume!

How did it taste? A bit too “bitey” for my palate. I would skip the soy sauce and perhaps the salt next time.

The word of caution is, of course, start off with a little of a few ingredients and each time add another flavoring until you achieve a taste that works for you!

Oh yes, say $0.99 for the can of juice and $0.15 tops for the pinches of flavouring. Better than $4.29.

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