The kitchen tool you never knew you NEEDED!

My absolute favorite new kitchen appliance to make tomato sauce and strain juice is the Weston Roma Tomato Press. It's not electric but simply a machine that is hand-cranked to make the sauce. It separates the skins and seeds for you. I bought mine at Lehman's.

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Howdy! I'm so glad you're here. I'm Melissa from Pioneering Today and a 5th generation homesteader where I'm doing my best to hold onto the old traditions in a modern world and share them with others.

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#tomato #tomatosauce #tomatopress

[jnastudios]

I just want to say, when everyone thinks they can cook and make YouTube videos. This lady had a great subject, knows her stuff, isn’t annoying, and knows a little bit of editing goes a long way. Great job!

[Whodaleewho]

My girlfriend loves hers. I modified the handle, I cut off at the first curved section and hooked my cordless drill to the shaft so she would not have to turn the crank, works great! I really enjoy your channel and content. Cheers from Upstate SC.

[davidbeutler]

Thanks for the video, my wife does tomato sauce pumpkin purée for pies, and a lot of apple butter. Didn’t know what to get her for Christmas so I ordered for her and hopefully makes her life more simple ❤

[randyq]

Although not a Weston, I have been using one of these for over 35 years. My dad purchased the first one. He drank tomato juice every morning. He would pick 3 hot bath canners full of tomatoes from the garden, quarter the tomatoes, then cook them. Then he would run them through using the tomato screen like you have done. Then switch to the beery screen with the finer holes. He would run it through again with the berry screen removing the pulp and ending up with juice. The pulp that came out the end was now thick tomato paste. Mom would have to take some of the juice to add to the paste so she could work with it. Now more spending hours cooking down to make paste. He would start picking at 7 am and have everything in jars ready to can by 10 maybe 11.

I bought one as soon as I moved out. I stared out using the tomato screen, then the berry screen to get tomato paste. I then used the paste to make my sauce with all the spices.. When I used the sauce I would add a jar of water to thin it back out, one day I questioned why I was doing that. I now just use the tomato screen and can my sauce that way, no need to add water. I made pints and would normally do 40 to 50 a year, one year 78. I have never hot bath canned, always pressure canned everything, no need to worry if the acidity was high enough. I may have 3 or 4 jars that did not seal each year. I have had a freeze dry for 8 or 9 years, one of the first Harvest Rights, but never thought about freeze drying tomato sauce. Will need to experiment with that.

[heatherryan]

I never knew you could freeze tomatoes! And then drying the skins to make a thickening powder. Brilliant! I always hate throwing away so much of the tomatoes.

Totally incidental to the video but these are game changers for me!

[jaynefranck]

Looks like and works same as a Champion Juicer minus the motor. Champions last FOREVER! We bought ours in 1975 and still works like a true champ! Love your Homestead life…Ive learned much! My husband and I have been married for 52 years, raised our 6 children..Thankful I learned from my mom and sisters how to bake and cook homemade everything! Always had a pot of soup or stew on the stove and sometimes 12 loaves of fresh baked bread every three days! All my kids are great cooks today…Learning homemaking skills is vital and truly a family blessing. Keep up the great work! Thank you for sharing your love of home and hearth!

[mikevine]

I bought one this spring, just used it for the first time. WOW, I did about 50 lbs. of fresh raw Romas in less than two hours.

[stephaniehanuman-dale]

Home Depot had them in stock for $49.99 with free delivery. I like Lehmans but they’re more expensive.

[marthafearsme]

Love my tomato press. AND nice to see someone using a steam canner VS a water bath. So much easier, less energy heating water and time saved. I have been using mine (I have 2 now) for over 30 years! Will try freezing the tomatoes to can when it is cooler!

[TomKDQKK]

We've had an old Victorio mill for years. It's pretty much the same as what you have there. It gets used extensively during the canning season. It's a great tool. I freeze the tomatoes and pop the skins off. Removing the skins makes the process a lot quicker.

[PamPLG]

Melissa, I purchased your book. I received the book after a long waiting. I just want to say, TANK YOU. The book is so good, nice size letters, well spaced, nice quality hard cover, beautiful pics, and most importantly a lot of very precise information that I really need as I am starting a big vegetable garden & learning how to preserve my future harvest. This book only complements watching your videos, & so many other great homesteaders and home gardeners YouTubers.
Thanks again! God Bless you.
And, please keep the books coming
Pamela, from New Jersey

[donaldcadwell]

I bought one about 20 years ago off Ebay.
It was called a Victoria strainer, AKA" Squeezo Strainer".
Mine has different sized screens for berries and pumpkin and didn't have the outer guard around the cone.
Had to place some aluminum foil around it to keep from having tomatoe juice splattered everywhere.
We (kids and I) cored, cut and cranked away on about 200 lbs of tomatoes.
Had lots of tomato juice for several years.

[lori]

You made me so happy. I’m using a Weston tomato strainer for the first time and I was looking at the waste and wondering if I could pass them through again. When I saw that Melissa Norris has a video, I knew she was a no waste gal and would tell me. Thank you!

[matthewhuszarik]

I have had an Italian tomato press for thirty years. I bought it from Williams Sonoma I believe. It makes the best fresh tomato sauce for a light marinara. It is also great for making salsa. I have tried getting another for our second home. I tried a couple on Amazon made in China they were total busts. So I found another made in Italy and it works perfectly like the original.

[jenniferwulf]

I have been canning for 12+ years and I just bought the electric version of this Weston tomato machine and it is a game changer. Saves so much time in processing tomatoes and way less seeds. I have only used it for tomatoes so far because we are knee deep in the middle of processing tomatoes. But i really want to get some apples and or pears to run thru it for apple sauce and such. They also have an accessory set that has 3 additional screens to the 3 that came with our machine. One of them is for berries and we are eatablishing berries in our garden so i bet that would be great for making james and friut sauces. So many possibilities with this one machine. Worth every penny we spent on it. My husband has never really helped with canning other than getting the canner setup outside over our firepit to keep the heat out of the house. But he even agreed to set this up for me and run tomatoes thru it while I i chopped them up. We also have several bags frozen and when they are defrosted they dont really even have to be chopped before running them thru. One of the best purchases ever too bad I didnt have this when I i first started canning. If you can and process a lot of tomatoes and or fruit get yourself one of these you wont regret it.

[barbaraanderson]

I have the same attachment for my kitchen aid mixer that does this job much faster. It’s electric and you don’t need to turn the handle. I could do my whole pot in about 3 minutes. It takes longer to put it on the kitchen aid and off. I put it thru at least 4 times to get all the pulp and seeds. I got it at a garage sale for $5.00

[maryadkins]

Kitchen Aid makes an attachment for your mixer too! Absolutely love it! Makes nice thick sauce!

[robbyers]

All right I came clean with my wife tonight and told her I like to listen to your videos because of your voice lol you are very knowledgeable and I enjoy you sharing your knowledge with all of your viewers. Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[ammiedoering]

That juice looks lovely. I bought Hand Made and make the dough regularly. I’m 57 and have learned so many tips from you. Thank you for teaching so many home skills.

[luckyrobinshomestead]

I got one of those in February for my birthday, only the electric version. I used it this summer to make spaghetti sauce and it was so, so nice. Then I used it on a sugar pie pumpkin for my pumpkin cheesecake bars this fall, which I cooked in the Instant Pot. The time difference was just so worth it. I am glad that I got one. I had wanted one for years. It's never been worth it to me to grow very many tomatoes, but now I'm going to in the coming summer because it just shortens everything down so much. And winter squash, too.