Recipe: Easy Homemade Vegetable Tomato Juice (like V8 Juice, but better)

Bye bye, V8 juice! This healthy, homemade V4 version will blow you away (recipe here).

Wow, it's hot out there. Two weeks in the 90s, blazing sun, and not a drop of rain. I think today it's supposed to hit 99 degrees (Joe won't let me look at the forecast) and stay there into next week. Despite twice daily watering, pretty much everything in my kitchen garden is looking haggard and unhappy. I'm drenched in sweat, and the fields are crunchy and parched. How can it be so dry and humid at the same time?

The sheep spend their days camped out in the shade, and the chickens are laying around panting. This may just be a typical late August in Missouri, but I can't help dreaming of cool breezes and a nice big thunderstorm. I'm sure they'll be here one of these days.

In the meantime, a chilled glass of this easy homemade vegetable tomato juice is a refreshing way to drink your garden veggies and keep up your stamina while working out in the heat.

This flavorful, rejuvenating juice is like Campbell's V8 juice but much better, and it's been one of the most popular recipes on Farmgirl Fare since I originally posted it back in 2008. Did you know V8 juice is mostly made from water and tomato paste, plus a frightening amount of salt?

Technically my gardener's delight version is only V4, though you could certainly add more vegetables, such as beets, spinach, carrots, or sweet peppers, if you like. Either way, the homemade version will blow that V8 away.

To make it, all you do is chop everything up and toss it into a pot, simmer until soupy, then put it through a food mill. It's a great way to use up overripe, imperfect, or just plain ugly tomatoes, which you can sometimes find for a deal at farmers' markets—or languishing in your own garden.

This juice will keep for at least a week in the fridge, or you can preserve it in glass jars (canning instructions are included in the recipe) to enjoy the taste of vine-ripened tomatoes on a deep winter day, when the heat and sweat of summer are nothing but a distant memory.

Stay cool if you can.

P.S. Quick and Easy Gazpacho (totally refreshing, chilled tomato vegetable soup) and Simple No-Cook Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce with Basil, Capers, and Kalmata Olives (escape to the Italian countryside!)

© FarmgirlFare.com, home of the dusty donkeys.

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