[QUOTE=Durgan;367754]All vegetable juice has the same taste. I use no condiments. The criteria is nutrition.

But one could swamp it like all commercial products if desired.[/QUOTE]

Respectfully disagree. Nutrition is good, but nutrition that tastes good is the bomb.

I like the Trader Joe's veggie drink. It's a little spicy, very fresh tasting. Not "cooked" like V8.


Tl

Well, unless one has a nice garden (and sometimes life intervenes to not allow that), commercial juice is the only juice. I think we all would prefer nice homemade juice if possible. :-)

[QUOTE=coronabarb;367987]Well, unless one has a nice garden (and sometimes life intervenes to not allow that), commercial juice is the only juice. I think we all would prefer nice homemade juice if possible. :-)[/QUOTE]

I use a fair amount of bought produce, which I do not grow in sufficient quantities if at all. Corn, cherries, blueberries, sometimes pears, muskmellon, pumpkin, elderberries, apples, to name most. It does take a bit of effort to pressure can, but I have it down to a system, and don't find it too onerous.

A small area in a backyard can produce a lot of food under the right conditions. I produce my tomatoes, all the greens, potatoes, onions, garlic, blackberry, gooseberry, currants, grapes, cucumbers, asparagus,green beans, green peppers, eggplant. The wastage is large unless a preserving method is used. I use the juicing method with great success. Last year I canned around 400 litres and will have the same amount this year or a bit more.

I agree about the commercial stuff -- I like the TJ's because it's tasty and more nutritious than a glass of OJ or a Coke. My favorite is actually home juiced celery, spinach, and lemon juice.

I'm excited to increase production this season, and over the winter, and next spring... this spring I managed tomatoes, greens, and a few peppers. Our climate is not friendly to a lot of berries and fruits, but I'm not complaining, because we have a great climate for many other things.

Maybe I should go dig my juicer out of the garage? Or I could use my blender. Do you think freezing the juice would negatively impact it?

[QUOTE=tlintx;368002]I agree about the commercial stuff -- I like the TJ's because it's tasty and more nutritious than a glass of OJ or a Coke. My favorite is actually home juiced celery, spinach, and lemon juice.

I'm excited to increase production this season, and over the winter, and next spring... this spring I managed tomatoes, greens, and a few peppers. Our climate is not friendly to a lot of berries and fruits, but I'm not complaining, because we have a great climate for many other things.

Maybe I should go dig my juicer out of the garage? Or I could use my blender. [B]Do you think freezing the juice would negatively impact it?[/B][/QUOTE]

My view:Freezing is fine for meat, but leaves a lot to be desired for vegetation. A human diet probably requires as much variety as possible to corporate all the necessities over the long term. I have found juicing can encompass almost anything with ease and ingesting is possible with little effort. Certainly one can juice almost any produce in the peak of condition. Fresh vine ripened is the ideal, but most do not live in a climate where such is possible, so we have to compromise. Unfortunately, we have handed our food preparation over to commercial interests, possible or more probably to the detriment of our health and well being.

Some relatively modern tools for food preparation have simplified canning in particular. Ease of operation food mills for straining, sure beats cheese cloth. Juicers which are basically different sized screens tend to get more nutrients out of the process. Some only supply water but others tend to get most of the useful material for consumption. A Champion juicer and a simple food mill are a big improvement over what our pioneer ancestors has to contend with. Of course, any food preparation takes time and effort. Many people are not prepared to expend the effort for various reasons.

Corn Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?GKCNW[/url] 2 August 2013 Corn Juice
Corn is in season now.It is of the highest quality. Cost is 6.50 dollars for 14 cobs if you have your own bag. Eighty four cobs were processed into 14 litres of juice.Each litre of juice contains 6 cobs of corn.Fourteen litres was pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage, and one litre was placed in the refrigerator for current use.Water was added to make the product liquid enough for drinking. The texture is such that it makes ideal soup or may be ingested as a drink.Texture is such that food mill straining is not necessary. Annotated photos depict the process. Cost about $2.75 per litre.

Boy I don't know about this one Durgan. I love all your juice posts generally. I am a big advocate of juicing for sure! Green smoothies too! I love almost all versions.

I have to draw the line at corn though. sorry. Much better preserved in the freezer. Canning can be good too. Growing dent corn and storing corn meal? Another good one. Juice?:no: Not with you there at all.

[QUOTE=Redbaron;368368]Boy I don't know about this one Durgan. I love all your juice posts generally. I am a big advocate of juicing for sure! Green smoothies too! I love almost all versions.

I have to draw the line at corn though. sorry. Much better preserved in the freezer. Canning can be good too. Growing dent corn and storing corn meal? Another good one. Juice?:no: Not with you there at all.[/QUOTE]
scott

i love seeing these posts. maybe he's onto something. i'm going to chalk it up as a "don't knock it till you try it" sort of thing.

when cooking with fresh corn many recipes call for slicing the kernels off and then running the back of a knife down the bare cob to get the "milk" or corn juice. it's kind of a trick to re-enforce the corn flavor in certain dishes

sounds excellent! I picked from a blueberry farm but made blueberry vanilla bean jam. Very yummy

Vegetable Juicing
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WCMTC[/url] 17 August 2013 Vegetable Juicing
Current garden vegetables were made into 12 litres of juice. Vegetables used were tomato, carrots,green beans,basil,egg plant, cucumber, green pepper and celery. Basically boiled until soft, made into a slurry,food mill strained, and Champion juicer strained Pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.Process is depicted by pictures.

[I]Durgan, What an awesome setup. I would love to have an "outdoor" place to make my mess and and not heat up the house. Now I am thinking.....[/I]

[QUOTE=Durgan;371874][url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?WCMTC[/url] 17 August 2013 Vegetable Juicing
Current garden vegetables were made into 12 litres of juice. Vegetables used were tomato, carrots,green beans,basil,egg plant, cucumber, green pepper and celery. Basically boiled until soft, made into a slurry,food mill strained, and Champion juicer strained Pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage.Process is depicted by pictures.[/QUOTE]

It looks delicious! Do you drink it as is, or do you use it in cooking?

I drink the juice as is about a litre per day of various sometimes mixed.

That's pretty good if you ask me. The birds usually do a good job of minimizing my harvest, but I got a gallon bag of berries this year first time, and they are in the freezer until I have time to juice and make jam out of them.

Peach Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?DGVNO[/url] 24 August 2013 Peach Juice
Redhaven Peaches were ripe so were processed into 16 litres of juice. A total of 25 pounds were picked.The pits were hand removed and five litres of water was added to the cooking pot. Each litre of juice contains about 1.5 pounds of peaches. The peaches were cooked until soft and blended into a slurry.The slurry was put through a food mill strainer. The residue from the food mill was used as a dessert.The peaches were small but excellent quality.The juice was pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes.

Sovereign Coronation Grape Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?YQRRF[/url] 27 August 2013 Sovereign Coronation Grape Juice
There are four grape vines in the garden. Boca Noir, Sovereign coronation, Concord and Niagara. Sovereign coronation and Niagara are ripe and the harvest was made into juice. Sovereign coronation produced 10 pounds of fruit, which translated into four litres of juice. This grape is also a good table fruit and is ripens earlier than the Concord. The fruit was picked, washed, removed from the supporting structure, covered with water,boiled until soft, beat into a slurry, strained, poured into litre jars and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes.Picures depict the process.

Blackberry Juice
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?ETXXE[/url] 28 August 2013 Blackberry juice
Three pounds of thorn-less blackberry were processed into three litres of juice. The berries were processed through the Champion Juicer to remove the seeds. Two litres of water was added and boiled for about five minutes to improve mixing. The juice was then placed in three, one litre jars and pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for storage. There are two plants on a trellis in the garden. There are more to pick at a later date as the berries ripen. Blackberries make a pleasant juice. Processing may also be by boiling blending and straining.

What would one do with blackberry juice? ;)

[QUOTE=FaithHopeLove;373716]What would one do with blackberry juice? ;)[/QUOTE]

Simply a fruit drink in competition with supermarket coloured water. A method of utilizing garden produce for use at a later date. Variety if you like.

[QUOTE=FaithHopeLove;373716]What would one do with blackberry juice? ;)[/QUOTE]

My grandma makes jelly out of it. Blackberries have too many seeds to make good jam.

Looks and sounds heavenly! When are we invited for Bloody Marys?

beautiful

Are the grapes you made into juice from your own grape vines? Looks yummy!

My own vine.

Pears
 

[url]http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NUNKD[/url] 8 September 2013 Pears Juicing
Twenty pounds of pears from one tree in my garden were processed into 11 litres of juice. The pears were washed,trimmed and cooked until soft, then blended into a homogeneous slurry and strained through a Food Mill.The eleven jars were pressure canned at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for long term storage at room temperature. There is little residue from pears.The juice is sweet and is a most pleasant drink. Pictures delineate the process.

[QUOTE=Durgan;375039]The juice is sweet and is a most pleasant drink.[/QUOTE]

Boy is that an understatement!:)) Pear juice is awesome!

It's hard to beat pear juice or really anything made from pears.
Do you ever made "pear butter" or pear preserves?
What's the galvanized tee for?

I enjoy all your pictures.

Ken

[QUOTE=Ken4230;375059]It's hard to beat pear juice or really anything made from pears.
Do you ever made "pear butter" or pear preserves?
What's the galvanized tee for?

I enjoy all your pictures.

Ken[/QUOTE]

Only make juice. A few pears are eaten raw but this leaves many for processing. The galvanized T is a weight so the hose can be set on the ground without whipping all over and wetting all and sundry.

Ken, I've made pear butter and it is delicious. I like it better than apple butter.