A few nights ago, we canned our own tomato juice. We found out that it is very efficient and easy! Discover the three reasons why you should can tomato juice every year.
3 Reasons You Should Can Tomato Juice
Reason #1: Tomatoes are EASY TO GROW!
You can even grow them in containers if you don’t have room for a garden! In fact, they are so easy to grow that when they are in season they will most likely produce far more than you can eat. Canning them is a perfect solution.
Reason #2: Homegrown Tomatoes Taste a MILLION TIMES BETTER!
I have a friend who won’t eat tomatoes. But, she’s only ever tasted store-bought tomatoes. All the tomatoes at your local grocery, even the ones that say “picked ripe,” are picked too green to eat. With time, they turn red. However, I have read that tomatoes are the only fruit that does not ripen after it has been picked. It may be red, but the tomato tastes exactly the same as it did when it was picked. Green tomatoes have virtually no taste! Ripe tomatoes, picked red just as they start to turn soft, are bursting with flavor. Once you’ve picked and eaten a ripe tomato, you will never go back!
Reason#3: There are SERIOUS HEALTH CONCERNS with factory canned tomatoes
Whether it’s canned tomatoes, tomatoes paste or tomato juice, factory tomato cans often contain aluminum or BPA. Over time the acid in the tomatoes attacks and absorbs these dangerous chemicals, creating a toxic stew of tomatoes that were picked green, aluminum, and BPA. Home-canned tomato products don’t carry any of these dangers, and tomatoes are a good ‘starter’ project for folks new to gardening and preserving.
The Lehman Family’s Quick & Easy Way to Can Tomato Juice Recipe
Here’s how we can tomato juice: We cut our ripe tomatoes in half, and also cut out any bad spots. We filled an 8-quart kettle with one picking of our tomatoes from just two plants. Then, we added about 1 ½? of water and sprinkle canning salt over the tomatoes. Next, we cooked the batch on low heat for about 20 minutes. The tomatoes are ready to juice when they are soft and the skin is wrinkly.
You can also cook in jalapeno peppers, green peppers, onions or pepper to create the flavor you like. The right kind of food mill will reduce everything to a consistent juice or sauce. We make ours plain because we use it for drinking, cooking, and making sauce. We add the other flavors when we open the canning jars.
Pre-heat your jars on a sheet cake tray in the oven. Using hot jars helps to keep them from shattering when you pour in the hot juice. It also improves the chances of having a good seal. Sterilize your canning lids in boiling water, OR follow the manufacturer’s recommendations on the box (some lids no longer need to be sterilized).
Slowly and carefully, pour the cooked tomatoes into a Lehman’s Weston Food Mill, avoiding splatters, as the tomatoes are hot. A food mill is one of the most amazing time savers ever invented for home canning! Once you pour the tomatoes into the funnel, turn the crank. It quickly and effortlessly separates the juice and pulp from the skin and seeds.
Flour sack towels are inexpensive and & versatile! Here are 25 uses for flour sack towels on the homestead that go far beyond the kitchen.
One of the cornerstones of being prepared is to identify items that multitask and to embrace their use during normal times. Doing so not only saves money but also saves storage space and eliminates having to choose which product or item to use for what.
A good example is the common Mason jar. Another is the flour sack dishtowel.
I was chatting with Backdoor Survival reader, Susan Perry, about this very same thing when she offered to share her top twenty-five uses for flour sack towels. How cool is that?
I grew up around flour sack dishtowels. I remember how my grandmother used them for everything including cleaning rags, aprons, and tidy little bundles holding dry goods. I had forgotten about them until ten years ago when I saw a package at Wal-Mart. There was no looking back and I still use those same towels today. I even embroidered them myself with colorful little cabins.
What the Heck are Flour Sack Dishtowels?
As a homesteader, I’m all about quality when it comes to basic supplies, and as an herbalist who also loves cooking from scratch, that goes double in the kitchen. I discovered years ago that when it comes to kitchen towels, flour sack towels are the only way to go.
Although the term might provoke an image of rough, dusty, oversized rags, they are quite the opposite. They’re super absorbent, lint-free, and vastly superior to the decorative towels you might find at a department store.
A Short History of Flour Sack Towels
It all started back in the 1850’s. Those old wooden barrels were heavy and bulky. Cotton had become inexpensive, so grain mills began shipping flour in large, thick cotton bags strong enough to hold fifty pounds.
Before long, cotton bags were being used not only for flour, but also for sugar, seeds, animal feed, fertilizer, and more. These goods were sent out to general stores and carried home by horse and wagon. Resourceful housewives soon realized that the bags’ sturdy fabric was way too useful to be tossed out. Rural families typically had limited income, and soon this packaging material was finding new life not only as towels, but also as aprons, diapers, coverlets, and even clothing.
Of course, no one wanted to wear a shirt or dress with the name of a flour company printed across the front for all the world to see. Housewives learned how to remove the labels with several rounds of soaking and washing with lye soap and bleach.
Over time, manufacturers decided they could increase their profits by upgrading the bags. They began using removable paper labels and started printing embroidery patterns onto the fabric. But the real excitement began in the mid-1920s when cotton mills started producing sacks using colorful flower prints, border designs for pillowcases and curtains, and patterns for children’s clothing, dolls, and teddy bears.
During the Great Depression, women fashioned clothing out of flour sacks.
The clever use of cotton sacks only increased during the depression years, and as clothing wore out, every scrap was put to use in beautiful, carefully designed quilts.
I’d been on my farm only a few months when I discovered today’s version of flour sack cloths. A neighbor showed me the Lehman’s Catalogue, and there they were, more than thirty inches long and almost as wide. With every week that went by, I found more ways to use them. That was twenty years ago, and I still find a new use for one every now and then.
Two Kinds of Flour Sack Towels
For homestead use, the best towels measure at least 30 by 30 inches and are thick and durable, made of pristine, high-quality cotton cloth with hemmed edges and a high thread count. With their quality and size, these are the most useful and longest lasting kind, giving good service for many years.
They are perfect for dealing with large batches of herbs and produce. I’ve used them to carry two gallons or more of blueberries from the counter to the sink.
The one thing I don’t use them for is straining herbs, yogurt, or jellies, as the thick fabric usually holds back too much of the liquid. I’ve even had the liquid squirt out the top and onto the counter when I tried to hurry things along by squeezing.
Some may think the smaller, lesser quality towels are not worth having, but I disagree. Their thinner fabric makes them the best choice for straining. They are much less expensive and readily available at discount stores such as Wal-Mart. I keep a kitchen drawer full for daily dish drying and counter wiping, and for small batches of herbs or produce.
There are other sizes and fabric choices, so hopefully the above will help you decide what you need.
25 Uses for Flour Sack Towels
Uses for Flour Sack Towels in the Kitchen
Cover bread dough and baked goods to keep them warm while rising.
Wrap and cover dinner rolls and breads to keep them warm at the table and contain crumbs.
Spread towels out on the counter to drain produce after rinsing.
Fold a towel in half and sew a seam on the edge of the long side, and on one of the short edges. This makes a bag you can use for storing produce in the refrigerator.
Line a refrigerator drawer with a slightly damp towel to keep greens, lettuce, and salad items moist and fresh. The produce won’t be harmed as it would be by plastic wrap, which can quickly cause deterioration.
Sort blueberries on white towels to easily see and remove damaged berries, loose stems and bits of leaf; clean the berries by holding up one end of the cloth and rolling them from one cloth to another. Any remaining debris or tiny insects cling to the cloths. This eliminates the need to rinse the berries, which causes the skin to toughen when frozen.
Use thinner cloths to strain homemade jellies, yogurt cheese, and anything else that needs straining. For large amounts, line a metal strainer with the cloth.
Dry dishes, wipe counters and do general kitchen clean-up. Save trees by using fewer paper towels.
Set canning jars on a towel to drain after washing; spread out a new, dry cloth to keep jars clean, avoid slips, and catch drips when filling jars with soup or other liquids for the freezer, or when filling jars with beans, grains, or other items for storage.
Uses for Flour Sack Towels in the Homestead & Garden
Line a peach basket with a large towel for picking small or delicate produce such as berries, beans, lettuce, and tomatoes. This keeps berries from falling through the gaps and protects produce from the rough edges.
Hold the corners to carry a few handfuls of produce from garden to kitchen.
Use a cloth to line a wicker basket to cushion fresh eggs as you gather and carry them from the hen house.
Taking the great leap into home fermentation, such as making sauerkraut, can be an intimidating proposition. The prospect of throwing a bunch of vegetables into a container for weeks on end can be, well, disconcerting.
If you’ve left berries in your refrigerator too long, you know what fermented foods can look and smell like, and it’s not always pleasant. To a beginner like me, it is easy to become entangled in thoughts of a fermentation project gone wrong: mold, slime, harmful bacteria, and oh, the scents. That said, fermented foods have a long history for a reason, and acquainting myself with methods of old helped alleviate my fear. With a bit of due diligence in keeping a sanitary environment, it can actually be quite easy to produce a delicious, nutritive ferment at home. As with all things “first”, I did some things right, and some things that had me ruing the day I ever decided to make sauerkraut. Rather than a conclusive How-To post, here is a quick list of Things Learned Along the Way.
Note on the ferment: I made a 15-pound batch of basic sauerkraut (cabbage, salt, and caraway seed) in a 3-gallon water-sealed fermentation crock.
Lessons Learned From My First Sauerkraut Ferment
Water-Sealed Fermentation Crocks are Your Friend
While I am no expert when it comes to fermentation methods, I can speak to the consistency of the anaerobic (the absence of oxygen) environment created in a water-sealed crock. After much research, I landed on the water-sealed fermentation crock for its ease of use. After packing the crock and placing weights inside, the lid is placed into a moat, which is then filled in with water. The water creates an airtight seal that keeps oxygen out while allowing carbon dioxide gases to bubble out. Beautiful. Now that I am on the other side of a five-week fermentation project, I can say with confidence that the Lehman’s European-style Fermenting Crock is a gem.
Prepare Sauerkraut Ingredients in Smaller Portions
For all the research I did on how to avoid mold (no air, got it) or spoilage (clean wooden spoons, check), I failed to do much research on how to efficiently pack the ferment into the crock. My wife and I made a mistake by mixing the salt and caraway seeds into an enormous bowl’s worth of shredded cabbage. We filled it to the brim. Fifteen pounds worth of cabbage becomes overwhelmingly cumbersome the moment you start trying to evenly distribute salt and spices. We painstakingly tried to avoid losing much cabbage to the floor, sacrificing our wits instead. Some research told us that preparing the salt with the cabbage in small batches — say, 5 pounds — makes quick work of a tedious step. Next time!
Pack Sauerkraut as You Go
Similar to preparing ingredients in smaller batches, packing the ferment into the crock in layers is critical. By pounding the cabbage down, you are in effect encouraging the release of moisture from the cabbage. This becomes the anaerobic brine the cabbage needs to live in for the duration of the fermentation process. You need liquid to rise above the surface level of the cabbage. This is infinitely easier if you pack in layers.
Rookie mistake number two. We schlepped all fifteen pounds of cabbage into our crock at once and consequently spent an hour packing it down. Our goal was to minimize the number of surfaces the cabbage came into contact with. This is what kept us from taking it out layer by layer. Say what you will about our approach, but most of all learn from our mistake! Your biceps will thank you. Also: a kraut pounder may be a worthy investment, considering we snapped a wooden spoon while we were at it!
Lehman’s is THE store for homesteaders! They have everything you need to get your self-sufficient homestead up and running
Here are just some of the reasons why we love Lehman’s so much:⠀⠀
They are passionate about this lifestyle! And they make their passion contagious!
They value locally made and USA made products.
They honor the past and respect tradition.
They sell low-tech items in a high-tech world.⠀
They carry what others don’t when it comes to homesteading items.
They stock non-electrical products that are dependable and reliable.
And most importantly, they stand together with their vendors and employees to bring their customers A Simpler Life.⠀
More about Lehman’s:
Why were we voted the best place to visit in Amish Country? Why is there “a store nowhere else” (and a company nowhere else) like us? Because we exist to create A Simpler Life for you and your loved ones. Jay Lehman opened Lehman’s in 1955 to serve the Amish with practical, non-electric tools, appliances and home goods. Along the way he learned from them the importance of offering satisfaction, sustainability and relationships to the community where we work and live, in an honest and understandable way. We exist to help you break through the clutter, chaos and confusion that is the modern world. You want to build traditions with your family, learn old-time skills, grow and harvest your own food, and we are here to help.
Join Justin Rhodes and his family on their tour of Lehman’s while they learn the fascinating history of the store and show you some of the most amazing products that you can add to your off-grid home, modern homestead or give as gifts to the favorite homesteaders in your life!
During their tour of Lehman’s they discover the wide variety of high-quality gardening supplies, wood stoves, non-electric refrigeration, water pumps, tools & supplies for your hard-working farmhouse kitchen, lanterns, off-grid laundry, toys for kids, even cow bells, and so much more that you’ll be excited to go shopping for your next homestead supplies!
You can shop Lehman’s at their retail location in Kidron, Ohio, online, or through their catalogue!
