Stephen Albert
To make the most nutritious tomato juice the easy way, do this: wash your tomatoes, cut out the cores and bruised or bad spots, and place the whole tomatoes in a blender—no peeling required. Blend until smooth and drink. Freeze what you don’t drink now for later use.
Most recipes for tomato juice ask you to scald and peel the tomatoes, then cook them and run them through a colander; that method leaves many of the tomato’s most important nutrients behind.
Tomatoes are rich in nutrients: they are an excellent source of vitamins C and A (and also heart-healthy potassium, folic acid, and vitamin B6 to name a few); they also contain alpha- and beta-carotene and the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant that protects cells, cholesterol, and DNA from oxygen damage.
Tomato skins—which are tossed away in old-fashioned tomato juice recipes—have the tomato’s richest concentration of lycopene and dietary fiber. Skins also contain flavonoid phytonutrients—which are effective in warding off allergies, inflammation, ulcers, and viruses.
Tomato-Vegetable Juice Recipe: No Cooking
To spice up your fresh blended tomato juice, add the following to the blender or food processor: one rib of celery with leaves (cut or diced), one carrot cut into pieces, one small onion quartered, a couple of fresh basil leaves, and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
