Rita, you mentioned that you cook down tomato juice to make sauce. I learned a trick years ago to make sauce out of tomatoes with out the long cooking process that seems to condence the acid, uses lots of energy, and you have the chance of scorching it if you don't stand there all day and watch it. I just cook the tomatoes until they're soft, run them through my Kitchen aide Fruit and Vegetable strainer attachment to make juice. Then I pour the juice into a clean pillow case and tie it up to drain. Only the water drains off, leaving the pulp. This can take a few hours. When it's as thick as I want it, I can it unseasoned. (or you could freeze too) If you want your tomato juice to be a bit thicker, you can do this for a while to drain off some of the water, making a very rich thick tomato juice. I keep a special pillow case just for this purpose. I boil it in hot water after I run it through the washing machine, and then when it's dry, put it in a plastic bag for next year. I learned this method from a recipe for making katsup years ago, and have used it ever since.
