Tomato Juice with Cloves for the Winter (No Vinegar)

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   How do you make tomato juice for the winter? Any variety of tomato will work. I'm using plum (Roma) tomatoes — ripe, firm, and meaty. Wash them well in cold water. 3 kg (about 6.5 lb) of tomatoes yields five 1-pint (500 ml) jars.

2. Step 2:

   

   Cut the tomatoes into quarters, remove the stem ends, and run them through a meat grinder. Use the finest grinding plate; otherwise you'll have to run them through twice.

3. Step 3:

   

   You'll have a tomato pulp, but not juice yet — it's still quite foamy after grinding.

4. Step 4:

   

   Next, set the bowl of tomato pulp over the heat and, as it warms, blend it with an immersion blender. Aim for the smoothest possible pulp, and be careful not to splatter the whole kitchen!

5. Step 5:

   

   Bring the tomato pulp to a boil, lower the heat, and add the salt, sugar, and whole cloves for a spiced aroma. Cook, stirring constantly, until all the foam has subsided and cooked down into the pulp. This takes about 15–20 minutes.

6. Step 6:

   

   Once the foam is gone from the surface, the tomato juice is ready to be poured into jars.

7. Step 7:

   

   Sterilize the jars and lids ahead of time. To speed things up, you can sterilize the jars in the microwave and simply boil the lids. Pour the hot juice into the sterile jars and seal immediately.

8. Step 8:

   

   Turn the sealed jars of tomato juice upside down. Check the seal and leave them like that until fully cooled. Then move them to a dark place to store for the winter. Keep the jars of tomato juice at room temperature.