The best thing I bought was a steam juicer! It's a three piece pot. Water goes in the bottom, the middle section looks somewhat like an angel food cake pan, and the top section like a colander. You load clean fruit in the top, fire up the stove….. tada! The steam bursts open the cells of the fruit and the juice starts to flow into the middle section which has a tube attached for you to drain off the beautiful juice. I have strawberry juice, cranberry, apple and white grape canned. You can also steam meat to can the broth with or separate from the meat. WAY easier than pitting and/or peeling.

Here's an example of one

http://www.canningpantry.com/a12.html

Dede

Going to steam juice some blueberries in a few minutes for the first
time ever – curious to see what yield I get. Then I have to can the
strawberry juice I SJ'd the other day and this juice BEFORE I go to bed
tonight. Thinking jellies in a month or so on a cold day…..
The steam juicer can steam those tomatoes, removing much of the
juice. The tomato 'stock' canned for soups (or some now are cooking
pasta and rice in that) and the remaining pulp run througha food
strainer and canned as tomato sauce with no cookin down needed :)

dede

I'll tell you what the wise and wonderful woman stressed to me/us about tomato juice and the steam juicer – it is NOT the best way to go for tomato juice. For juice, the best comes from running tomatoes through a food strainer. The 'stock' (what I call it anyway) that steams off tomatoes is a clear/straw colored liquid that has good tomato flavor. Even combining it with some of the pulp after straining just doesn't give you the best end product as tomato juice. Makes a great soup base though! And many people are chilling the stock and drinking it and say it's a wonderful and refreshing drink.

For really good tomato juice I definitely recommend simmering the tomatoes overnight (I use my electric Nesco roaster) and then running them through a food strainer/mill. The simmering increases the lycopene and also helps to get all the pulp bits from the skins when you strain. Really good, smooth, rich tomato juice.

The steam juiced tomato PULP is what makes great tomato sauce without all the simmering, straining, simmering and fear of scorching :)

dede

You can stop at whatever point you wish in the steaming. You can add back some 'stock' if your pulp is too 'dry' for your taste. If you are steaming for juice and that's your only goal you steam until the fruit gives up no more juice. Some people still strain the pulp, mix with something else (applesauce for example) and make fruit leather or fruit butter, etc. You decide what you want as your end result.

dede