The countless health benefits of a tomato give you enough reasons to consume it. It is a good source of lycopene which is a known anti-carcinogenic agent. Also, it helps lower the blood pressure and stimulates blood circulation. If itâs not possible for you to include tomato as salad or in vegetables in your daily diet, you can have it in the form of juice. Itâs very simple to prepare. Since, lycopene is fat soluble, you may add a few drops of oil for better absorption while preparing the juice. Tomato juice is considered to be beneficial for pregnant women too. Also, you can take tomato juice mixed with pumpkin, cucumber, lime, lemon, carrot and apple juice. Here is what you should do while making tomato juice at home. Read on.
Complexity Level: Basic
Time Required: 10-20 minutes using a blender and 40-60 minutes by cooking method
Resources Required:
1. Tomatoes
2. Spices, salt
3. Blender or juicer
4. Large bowl
5. Knife
6. Onion (optional)
7. Olive oil optional)
8. Sugar (optional)
Instructions:
1. Wash the tomatoes
Wash all the tomatoes well and remove all the stalks and veins. You can also use peeled tomatoes for the juice. For this, you may have to blanch the tomatoes first. Put them into a large bowl containing boiling water and leave them for a few minutes. When you see splits on the skin, take them from the water and remove the skin. After removing the skin you have to remove the seeds also. Take the flesh of the fruits and cut them into pieces.
2. Heat the cooking pot and prepare flavor for the juice
Place a large cooking pot on the stove and heat it. For adding flavor to the juice, first pour a few drops of olive oil in the pot. When hot, add chopped onion and celery stalk into it and sauté for a while. It will take about 8-10 minutes.
3. Add chopped tomatoes
After the onion and celery stalks turn tender, add the chopped tomatoes. Lower the heat and let the tomatoes and other ingredients simmer for about 25-40 minutes. If you cook for a long time you can make thicker juice. Remove the mixture from the heat according to the consistency you want. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes. Use a sieve and pass the mixture through it to remove all the solids waste, celery and onion.
4. Cool the juice and serve it
Before serving, it is ideal to chill the juice for many hours. If you have extra juice you can store it for several days in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can we make the juice sweet?
Yes, you can make sweet juice using raw tomatoes and sugar or honey for sweetening. You can prepare the juice easily. All you have to do is wash the tomatoes and put them into a blender along with sugar/honey and water. After it becomes a paste, use a sieve and separate the juice. Chill and drink the delicious sweet juice. If you wish you can use salt instead of sugar and add other herbs, like mint, lemon juice etc for flavoring.
Quick Tips:
- To remove the skin, you can blanch the tomatoes and then prepare the juice.
- Be careful while using the blender.
- Let the tomatoes cool to remove the skin after blanching.
Things To Watch Out For:
- Uncooked, fresh squeezed tomato juice tastes and looks quite different from its salted and cooked counterpart.
- You can make tasty and delicious juice by using fresh and ripe tomatoes.
