Here is a better picture showing what you want to see if you are making sauce or juice. The thicker stuff on the left is very similar to applesauce; very good for sauces. On the right is more like water; good for juice.
If you are looking to make juice, by the way, this is NOT the way to go about it. Please don’t let the above description lead you astray. Look here for directions on making tomato juice.
Seeing as this was my third day of canning, I decided to take some time out at the beginning of the day to give the kids some attention. Here is the result:
A police castle. It even comes equipped with a garage and a ramp. Impressed, aren’t you!?
I also took time in the afternoon this day to go pick blackberries. In about an hours time I had two gallons picked. I placed these in the fridge till I had room on the counter to puree them. In a few weeks, or months, I will defrost the puree and make jam.
The processing steps this day were the same as yesterday. I won’t bore you with more descriptions and pictures. Look at yesterday’s post and pretend the tomatoes are red. See, wasn’t that easy?
TIP – if you are looking to clean a food mill like the one above and are at a loss as to how to clean the screen, use a tooth brush. I try to get off as much of the thick pasty tomato goodness as I can with a scraper, adding the results to the pan cooking on the stove. Next I take the screen and clean it under a stream of water with a (non-used) toothbrush. The firmer the bristle the better they work. Make sure you alternate between cleaning the inside and the outside. I find the toothbrush is good for getting in the crevices and the holes.
Do you have any tips you would like to share?