Friday, September 28, 2007

Steamer & Juicer Tutorial

My Auntie Bonnie has been bugging me to post pictures of the steamer I have so I decided to make a "tomato-veggie blend" juice today and blog about it. After making the juice I used the pulp to make tomato paste and tomorrow I'll can it. Here goes:

Tomato Veggie Juice & Tomato Paste

Quarter up 12 lbs of fresh tomatoes. Core them but leave the peels on.
1 small bunch of carrots, unpeeled and cut into pieces.
4 onions, sliced.
1 bunch of celery, cut into 1 inch pieces.
3 green peppers, cut in pieces.
1 teaspoon of coarse salt.
1 tablespoon of sugar.
1/2 gallon jug of Motts Clamato Juice.
2 tablespoons per jar of lemon juice.
Optional: Whatever spices/seasonings you prefer, although I didn't add any.



Sliced, chopped, quartered, and ready to go!


After getting all your veggies done grab your steamer.


It has three main pieces; the top where the veggies go, the middle where the juice collects, and the bottom where you add the water. I put a marble in the bottom to warn me if it goes dry (never let it go dry!)


Somewhat layer your veggies in there. I mean really heap it up, it doesn't matter if you can't get them all to fit, when things settle you can add more.


Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of coarse salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar over the whole works. This is where you could add your optional spices.


Place the lid on... even if it just sits on top for now :)


Depending on what I'm juicing I set either jars or a large pot on a tv table to collect the juice, today it was a pot. I let the veggies steam hard for about an hour and then begin to tap it off. During the first hour try to limit how many times you lift the lid. I never did have to add any extra water to the bottom of the pot.


This is what the juice looks like when it first comes out.


I like to see it red so I stirred up the veggies in the top and after a few minutes it looks like this:


At this point a bit of the seeds were starting to come through so after I finished tapping off all the juice I strained it through a jelly bag. I love clamato juice but I didn't have any clam broth so I added a jug of Mott's Clamato Juice, this helped darken it up even more and gave it a wonderful flavour. Just before processing I also added 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to each 2 quart jar for safety's sake. I then processed in a pressure cooker for 15 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. I got three 2 quart jars and one 1 quart jar for a total of 7 quarts. Here's the results:


The juice has a wonderful flavour and the vegetables blend together rather nice. After I finished bottling up the juice I ran the veggie pulp through a press and will use that for tomato paste. Tomorrow I'll can it in 1/2 pint jars and add them to my pantry room shelf. I just bought the steamer this year and I've been having a blast with it. Not only can you do juice and jellies but you can use it for roasting, steaming, and cooking of all sorts. I juiced some plums the other day and I'm going to make syrup for pancakes and waffles. The possibilities are endless and I think the steamer/juicer is well worth the money.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Kansas...
This sounds like a mean machine. (and I wasn't thinking about the chickens when I thought that) :) All their scrap juiced up! :) It sounds like it makes great use of the pulp and peel of the veggies and fruit. Totally awesome! It is so versatile it certainly does make it a must have for anyone that grows their own fruit and vegetables. I can't wait to see it in operation. I don't remember ever having seen one. Is this a new thing? or have they been around for awhile?
See you soon.

Love Ya!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kansas,

Speaking of plums...any chance of making HP Sauce again??? I'm just about out(HAHAHA!!!!) PatV

Anonymous said...

mmmmmmmm! Looks delish! Hey, I'm going to email you because I have some kitchen questions!

I've been so busy that I haven't had time to get online (a FIRST for me!!)

Anonymous said...

Wow Gotta get me one of those steamers. I want to put some blackberries through it. It would be great to have for making wine. Where do they sell them. AuntieB

NEO said...

I need one of those, but I just can easy stuff at this point, maybe someday. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Kans
The pictures on this tutorial are absolutely brilliant. Great photography.