When we’re looking for the best tomato juicers for canning, we have a choice to make between two very different machines.
The first one we can pick is a classic juicer, the one we all know about. This is the kind of appliance we use if we want to make daily or weekly juices from a variety of ingredients.
These are the types of juicers I recommended when I was talking about picking the best juicer for ginger or looking for the best juicer for vegans and so on.
These juicers are electric machines that work quickly and do most of the job for us.
The biggest advantages for electric juicers is that they do most of the work for us, they work quickly and we can use them during our everyday lives to make juices from a combination of fruits and veggies. Their role is not limited to only serving as the best tomato juicers for canning.
The second type of machine we can choose is one that is designed especially for making tomato juice for canning, which are also known as tomato strainers.
This type of tomato juicer looks more like a meat grinder than a classic juicer. Most of these machines are also manually operated, they have a handle that we turn to get the juice out.
There are also some electric tomato strainers that work perfectly for small and large batches. These are my favorite but they’re not cheap.
The seeds, the skin and the pulp don’t pass through the sieve/mesh strainer/cheesecloth, only pure tomato juice is obtained.
Best Tomato Juicers for Canning Reviews
Since I mentioned which type of juicers we can use to make tomato juice for canning, I should also mention that electric juicers can be a good pick if you don’t make juice from hundreds of pounds of tomatoes.
However, there are very few electric juicers that actually work extremely well for tomatoes. I’ll try to find some really good recommendations in case you want a juicer that can be used daily for all sorts of juices and at the same time to make tomato juice for canning.
I’ll also try to review some good manual juicers for tomato or tomato strainers, as they’re also called. I hope I can find a couple of good ones to recommend.
And I want to find some very good electric tomato strainers for those who do large batches every year.
These are perfect if you don’t have the patience for manual strainers but they’re also very expensive.
If you’re on a smaller budget, manual tomato strainers are a better fit.
Last but not least, there are some people who might actually end up preferring blenders.
You can’t make tomato juice for canning with a blender but you can quickly make a tomato product that will contain the skin and the seeds and the pulp, all blended into a delicious product.
What we make in a blender it’s definitely not tomato juice but it’s a tomato blend that can be used for a lot of recipes and that can be canned in the same manner we can tomato juice.
1. Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine: Affordable Tomato Juicer for Canning
I want to begin my recommendations for the best tomato juicers for canning with a machine that works really well for this purpose.
Moreover, among electric juicers, this Hamilton Beach is one of the most affordable models we could buy, with a price under $100.
So far so good. I should also mention that you can use it to make whatever juice you want from a combination of fruits and vegetables. It’s an appliance that we don’t only use to make tomato juice but all sorts of juice.
Features
The first thing I really like about the Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine is its powerful motor. It can make juice from a bunch of ingredients in seconds. Or it can go through pounds of tomatoes in just a few minutes.
The 800 watts motor is definitely a top selling feature.
This is a centrifugal juicer so they need to be powerful in order to extract the juice from all kinds of ingredients. However, if you feel that the discarded pulp is too wet, run it a second time. I always recommend this for most centrifugal models.
Another attractive feature is the 3-inch wide chute. If you’re juicing plump tomatoes, you won’t even have to cut them. You can just throw them down the chute whole one after another.
You don’t actually have to press down on them to push them through the blades. The juicer should be doing that, just give your ingredients a little push if you feel that they need it.
The pulp container is pretty big so you’ll go through a sizable batch of ingredients until you’re forced to stop to empty it.
The only thing that this Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine lacks is a jug container. You’ll have to improvise your own containers.
All in all, it’s easy to use even for beginners, it’s easy to clean, and it’s incredibly fast. Plus, the price is affordable. You can see why it’s a favorite of mine.
Making tomato juice with the Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine
You can juice a few pounds of tomatoes in just a few minutes. If you want to extract even more juice, you can take the pulp and run it through the juicer again.
My concern is not that this juicer for Hamilton Beach doesn’t work really well for tomatoes. It’s totally capable.
Still, I must mention that it’s not exactly the quietest thing to have in a kitchen.
If you have a lot of pounds of tomatoes to go through, grab some headphones. Play some music to block out the noise until you go through your entire batch of tomatoes and you’ll be fine.
2. Norpro 1951 “The Original” Sauce Master: Best Manual Tomato Juicer for Canning
As luck would have it and by luck I’m actually referring to some intense research, I came across this Norpro Sauce Master that is in the same price range as the above Hamilton Beach Juicer Machine.
Besides that, these two have nothing in common.
This Norpro Sauce Master is actually a manual tomato strainer that looks very similar to what our mothers and grandmothers used to use. The design for tomato strainers has pretty much remained the same. But this Norpro has a very cool name.
Nevertheless, keep in mind that this is a manual machine, you need to turn the handle without stopping in order to make the juice come out in a continuous flow.
Even so, there are people who mention that they went through 100 pounds of tomatoes with ease. It will take a few hours if you juice huge quantities but you’ll be completely satisfied with the result.
And you don’t have to put some force into turning the handle, it’s pretty easy to operate. Even if this is your first tomato strainer, you’ll quickly get used to it.
I loved helping my mother when I was little. She would cut the tomatoes and I would turn the handle, it was fun. If a child can turn the handle without problems, an adult can do it even faster.
Features
Norpro describes it as the only strainer we’ll need for vegetables, fruits and purees. Thus, it has more uses than making tomato juice for canning, drinking and cooking.
If we want to make tomato juice, all we have to do is to wash the fruits and then slice them in 2, 4 or 6, depending on the size of your tomatoes.
The strainer forces food through a chrome plated steel screen, automatically separating the juice and the pulp.
This manual strainer comes with a fine mesh screen, standard spiral, recipe and instruction booklet. We can buy additional screens, for example if we want to make berry juice or we want a grape spiral or we want to use a pumpkin screen and salsa screen.
Frankly, I’m glad that we can buy these kinds of screens because it makes this tomato strainer so much more versatile but I would have liked to have them all included in the package, even if the final price were a bit higher because it’s just easier that way.
All in all, we can use it to make tomato juice, fruit butters, fruit leather, applesauce, baby food, pumpkin pie filling, jams. and jellies.
If you feel that the pulp is too wet, pass it through the strainer a second time. But I find that it can dilute the intense flavor of the tomatoes, it depends how tasty your fruits are. I usually prefer juicing my tomatoes just once.
3. CucinaPro Tomato Strainer: Cheapest Tomato Juicer for Canning
I guess I should also recommend this tomato strainer from CucinaPro for those on a budget under $50.
However, it’s certainly not a favorite of mine. It has plenty of negative reviews so you might end up being disappointed with it. But there are also plenty of people who are completely happy with this CucinaPro manual juicer for tomatoes.
One user review mentions that they are baffled at people who couldn’t make this work properly.
You absolutely have to cut the tomatoes. If they’re thin tomatoes like San Marzano, then cut them in two. If they’re bigger plump tomatoes, cut them in four.
You can add a few cups at a time and then it’s time to turn the handle manually.
You can press on the tomatoes if you want to speed up things. Otherwise, the tomatoes might get turned without being cut by the blades so make sure to put some pressure on them with the pusher that comes with the machine.
The skin and the seeds are ejected to the side while juice runs down the tray. If you think that the pulp holds considerable juice, run the pulp a second time.
All in all, it’s not a bad tomato strainer, you can certainly make it work if you have a bit of patience.
But it takes more time to juice tomatoes because it’s a manual appliance. If you’re not into doing manual work, you’ll be better off with an electric machine.
4. Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer: Overall the Best Tomato Juicer for Canning
While we were able to see what manual tomato strainers offer, it’s time to see what an electric tomato strainer can do.
However, I should mention that this is an expensive machine. While we can buy the CucinaPro for a little under $50, this Omra is about 6 times more expensive.
For the price of this Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer, we could buy a really good Omega masticating juicer.
Still, if you’re interested in using a very fast electric tomato strainer, this Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer might be what you’re looking for.
Although it’s for household use, I regard it more as a sort of commercial electric tomato strainer because it can produce up to 330 pounds (150kg) of tomatoes per hour. That’s incredibly fast.
It’s certainly one of the best tomato juicers for canning for people who want to juice hundreds of pounds of tomatoes in a short time.
Features
It has a 1/4HP motor with cooling fan.
However, even if it’s very fast and powerful, I find it interesting that it actually imitates masticating juicers.
The rotation of the worm registers 110 RPM so it doesn’t work like a centrifugal juicer but it works exactly like a masticating juicer to preserve enzymes.
The machine has a die-cast metal housing, a stainless steel hopper and a food grade nylon auger (worm).
If you’re interested to see how it’s used, you can watch this video. It’s a nice, short guide for those interested in knowing more about the Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer. You’ll be amazed with how fast it produces juice.
5. Raw Rutes Electric Tomato Strainer Machine (No. 3)
We’ve already established that electric tomato strainers are not cheap machines. But we’ve also talked about how they’re the best choice if you don’t want to crank the handle for a few hours in order to go through a few hundred pounds of tomatoes.
Manual tomato strainers are perfectly capable of juicing hundreds of pounds as long as there’s someone to crank the handle.
Thus, if you don’t mind the manual labor, I don’t think that you’ll feel the need to buy an electric model.
On the other hand, people who don’t have patience or who can’t do the work will be happy to pick an electric model as one of the best tomato juicers for canning. But you have to have a budget around $300-$400.
The Raw Rutes machine is an excellent choice if you care about high quality appliances and you aren’t frightened by high prices. I personally prefer the Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer a bit more.
Moreover, it’s perfect for people who have large storage spaces for when they’re not using it. It’s a big machine, it looks awesome and it’s beautiful but it will take up a bit of space for storage.
Thus, this Raw Rutes is not a good choice for people who live in smaller apartments.
The above Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer is definitely smaller so you should check out that one if you’re looking for smaller electric models.
Features
It has a 400 watts motor, which might not imply that much power but it’s pretty powerful. You can watch this YouTube video if you want to see how it works.
If you’re getting this model from Raw Rutes, I recommend running the pulp a second time because it seems to me that a decent amount of pulp is left after the first juicing.
It’s capable of processing up to 300 pounds of tomatoes per hour. That shows that it’s powerful and fast.
There’s a tomato pusher included and you should use it. Electric tomato strainers also need a push, just like we operate manual tomato strainers.
The Raw Rutes Electric Tomato Strainer Machine is an Italian made machine that processes all kinds of tomatoes in any state: raw, steamed, boiled, fire roasted into delicious purees and juices.
I like the Raw Rutes Electric Tomato Strainer Machine but I don’t think that the higher price is completely justified. I personally prefer the Omra Spremy Electric Tomato Strainer because it’s a bit cheaper, smaller and it works just as well as this more expensive model from Raw Rutes.
How many tomatoes do you need to make tomato juice?
Generally, from 2 pounds of tomatoes you can make 4-5 cups of juice but we can’t say for sure that this is the amount we’ll obtain every single time.
It depends on how well your juicer works and how juicy the tomatoes you’re using are.
Which are the best tomatoes to make juice for canning?
If you grow your own tomatoes, that’s absolutely perfect because those are the best tomatoes to use. They can even be a mix of varieties and it wouldn’t matter.
Mostly, I prefer using plump tomatoes because they’re less acidic and they can be sweeter than other varieties. I love them both for eating and for making whatever tomato products I want, including ketchup and sauces for pasta, pizzas or just for simply making canned whole peeled tomatoes at home.
Beefsteak tomatoes are also great. Due to their size, we can obtain a lot more tomato juice from fewer tomatoes.
I wouldn’t choose to use cherry tomatoes because we just need too many of them, which makes all the work tedious. I freeze cherry tomatoes because they’re very easy and delicious to use in the winter.
If you’re buying tomatoes, I recommend buying from farmers or buying organic if you can get a good price.
What can you use canned tomato juice for?
The main use is to just drink it. Or use it to make delicious cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
But we can also use the juice as a base for pasta sauce or to make tomato soup or as a base for other soups.
If you cook the juice on the stove until it thickens, it can also be used for stews and as a pizza sauce.
Can you blend fresh tomatoes in a blender?
One simple way is to blend fresh tomatoes. Plump tomatoes are my favorite but you can also use beefsteak tomatoes or whatever variety you have.
Wash your tomatoes, cut them into chunks and then blend them. If you have a very powerful blender, you won’t have any skins left unblended. It will be a smooth tomato product.
If you want to remove the seed, you can run the thicker tomato juice through a sieve. It’s not exactly a proper tomato juice because the bulb has been blended so the consistency is much closer to a sauce than a juice.
I also came across this recipe of blended fresh tomatoes. You can can the blended tomato product or you can store it in the fridge to be used in the next few days for delicious recipes.
The recipe calls for: ripe tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice (optional) and pinch of salt (optional).
These blended fresh tomatoes can be poured in a glass as a drink, used as a pasta sauce, pizza sauce, in soups, for dressings, etc.
How to make tomato juice for canning with a blender
If none of the above recommendations work as some of the best tomato juicers for canning for your needs, there’s another way we can use a blender to make our desired tomato products.
You’ll find the full recipe here because I’ll only provide a shortened version.
The ingredients needed are: tomatoes, salt (optional), lemon juice.
Cut the tomatoes into chunks or in half if they’re smaller and cook them over medium heat. Cook them for about 10 mins or until they’re soft.
Let them cool down and transfer them to your blender’s pitcher. Blend until smooth.
You can pass the blended tomatoes through a mesh strainer or a cheesecloth to remove seeds and pulp.
You can also can/freeze it directly from the blender if you don’t care about the seeds and the pulp.
All in all, I hope my picks for the best tomato juicers for canning will help you with your work, whether you end up using an electric juicer, a manual tomato juicer or even a blender.
How to can tomato juice
Just like we have a few models and technologies to choose from when it comes to choosing the best tomato juicers for canning so we have a couple of choices as our method of canning.
There are basically two methods to choose from: using a pressure canner or placing our jars in a boiling water bath canner.
Does tomato juice need to be pressure canned?
No, you can can tomato juice even if you don’t have a pressure canner. You can choose to process them in a boiling water bath canner.
The concern is not whether we’re using a pressure canner or we’re boiling the jars in water but the acidification process.
Michigan State University Extension recommends adding 2 tbsp of bottled lemon juice or ½ tsp of citric acid per quart of tomatoes. Some people actually prefer using lime juice, it apparently tastes better than lemon juice.
We can also add 1 tsp of salt per quart.
After we’ve used our strainer or juicer to make tomato juice for canning, we need to bring the juice to a boil over medium heat. We should continue to boil for about 10 minutes.
If you want a thicker consistency, you should boil it for longer until more water is evaporated. Once it’s cooked, let the juice cool down a bit and then pour it into sterilized jars.
When we fill the jars with tomato juice we should leave a 1/2-inch headspace.
If we choose to process in a boiling water bath canner, we should leave pints for 35 minutes and quarts for 40 minutes.
In a pressure canner, we have to process pints or quarts for 20 minutes at 6 pounds of pressure or for 15 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure.
I guess that’s about everything I wanted you to know about canning tomato juice, including what to look for when we’re shopping for the best tomato juicers for canning.
