Servings: 6 Prep: 5 min Cook: 0 min Total: 12 hrs
I’m a big part of one of the biggest farmer’s markets in all of Mexico. When I lived there, I helped organize and run it. Now that I’m in Seattle, my role is limited to website updates and spamming customers. Whee! Spam is fun!
… Ahem … A year or so ago, the market had a sprawling organic festival and we wanted to come up with some interesting drinks. I suggested some tantalizing beverages made with tomato water, from locally grown tomatoes. I got a lot of strange looks. “Que es esto?” I explained a method by which they could puree the tomatoes with some salt, hang the puree in sacks of cloth and get a very pale yellow, very clear liquid … containing the pure heart and soul of the tomato.
They balked. They pointed. They laughed.
So, I had to prove it to them! I had the market manager over to my home, where I made a small quick batch of the stuff. Below are the photos …
I can’t imagine anyone would ever do this, but … I find it interesting and worth putting on the website. It IS a very interesting taste sensation. It’s unmistakably tomato and is beautiful. Use it as a soup base, in clear beverages as a mixer, mixed into an interesting vinaigrette, etc.
Having a big bowl of tomato water lying around … well … it doesn’t lie around long at Casa DJ!
Note: Makes about 1 1/2 cups of tomato water.
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh tomatoes washed, dried and coursely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Puree the tomatoes in a blender with the salt. Puree for 2 solid minutes.
- Line a non-reactive bowl or pot with a double layer of cheesecloth.
- Pour the tomato puree into the cheesecloth.
- Bundle the 4 corners of the cheesecloth together. With butchers twine, tie a knot at the top, leaving several inches of excess twine dangling. Be careful not to push the puree around too much, or it may bleed color through the mesh. You should now have a wet sack of tomato puree with a string hanging from the top.
- Place the bowl in the refrigerator on the lowest level. Loop the string through the rack above the bowl and gently raise the sack above the bowl. Tie it off, so that the hanging sack can slowly drip it's liquid gold into the bowl, below. Let it sit, overnight. The next day, remove the bowl. Tomato Water! You can use the remaining tomato pulp in a sauce or soup, if you'd like. It's perfectly good tomato stuff! (an alternate approach to this whole thing is to use a very deep boiling pasta/stock pot, with a stick or long wooden spoon spanning the top of the pot. Tie the sack to this and place the whole kit in the fridge, over night.
- Enjoy!
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
I thought I was the only person who saved the tomato water! In the summer, I make my own tomato sauce and I can it. One of the steps involves cooking the tomatoes down a little until they release some juices, then letting the tomatoes sit in a colander for 15 minutes, to drain some of the water from the tomatoes. I save this tomato water. I use it to cook my rice, flavors soup, but I didn’t think to make cocktails, which is brilliant. Thanks for the idea!