Man, we had such a banger of a tomato season this year. I’d guess we pulled in well over a hundred pounds. So much so, we were able to make practically every single thing we wanted. And, even though the end time is near, we still have more tomatoes coming! So, let’s talk about one of our “extra credit” projects!
This one took us well off the beaten preservation path. This season, we practiced what we’d call “concept preservation.” Another way to put it is that we grew and crafted every single thing we needed to make a particular final product. In our case, our “concept” target was a Bloody Mary cocktail.
We pickled a few vegetables, which we can use as a garnish. We crafted an ultra fine, veggie infused vodka for our spirit. And finally, the crown jewel, seven quarts of our very own custom Bloody Mary mix!
When it comes to store bought Bloody Mary mixes, you’re basically going to find tomato juice with perhaps a light bit of flavorings. You usually end up having to put so much “extra stuff” into the Bloody Mary, just to make it flavorful. Not ours, no!
Ours has pretty much every single thing you’d want in a Bloody Mary. Most of it was stuff we grew, harvested right before the preservation to capture that super fresh essence. We did augment with a very small number of things we bought, but this stuff is like 99% our gardens!
We cooked it down a bit, just to ever so slightly thicken the mix, and then ran it through the food mill. This pulled almost all the skins, celery fiber and the “bulk” of any chunkiness. We thought about further filtering the mix, or running the mix through an immersion blender. In hindsight, we’re glad we didn’t. When we drink a Bloody Mary, we’re in it for a robust experience and
“meatiness” is likely to contribute to that experience.
We’re far too busy these days for day drinking! But, soon, things will slow way down and a lazy Saturday afternoon will be in the cards for us. To say we’re looking forward to putting one of these together on a day like that is an understatement!
We might try this “concept preservation” thing a bit more. It was kind of fun and a much different way to think about preservation efforts. It’s one thing to preserve stuff, but another thing to craft everything you need for a much more complex product!
