Tomato Sauce - Juicer?

[Jonathan]

Hi All!

DW and I go through a lot of tomato sauce. With the canned stuff up close to $1/can, I'm thinking about making my own sauce again. But I quit after doing it once because I had to spend *so long* stirring the puree!

Working in a medical lab for a while, I got the idea of using a centrifuge to separate the pulp from the liquid, but haven't found one I'd put in my kitchen, even if I could trust it not to explode, which I don't. The recent cookbook with all the goofy recipes from Myhrvold et. al. uses such a centrifuge, so maybe my idea isn't so hare-brained after all. I ran across a site with centrifugal juicers, which leads to my question:

Has anyone used a centrifugal juicer to make tomato sauce by juicing the tomato, keeping the pulp, and tossing most of the water? This would cut the boiling time significantly... I think (hope?).

Methods? Products? What works? Or is a centrifugal juicer not going to do what I want?

Jonathan

[Gina]

I've never tried it, but using a centrifuge would be very creative.

If you are looking for inexpensive but good tomato product, Costco sells those extremely large cans of crushed tomatoes for very little. That's what I buy for store-bought. I freeze what I dont use in smaller containers.

When I'm processing my own from the garden, I cut them in half, squeeze out excess juice/seeds, and toss what's left into the oven in large roasting pans and let slowly cook down. You only have to stir them now and again, and the flavor is outstanding. Even a gentle scorch now and again adds to the good flavor. I don't worry about the skins, but you could peel them first. When the pulp is reduced down to the desired thickness, cool and freeze in desired amounts. Best tasting tomato product ever!

You can also add chopped onions and peppers while roasting down for added flavor.