For many years, I drove semi and
hauled fluid milk and other dairy products. While a lot of the milk that I
hauled went into bottling, a bunch of it went into making cheese as well. One
by-product of cheese making is whey. Whey in its raw form is a nasty greenish
looking water with some foam and bits of cheese. This is milk with most of the
solids removed, but there are still solids in this whey. I don’t think I ever
hauled a load of raw whey, but I saw what it looked like plenty of times. I
went to dairies where farmers showed up to collect the raw whey to feed to hogs
or spread out on their fields. This was mainly done at the smaller cheese
plants that I saw in Wisconsin.
Most of the time, either the
cheese plant, or a dedicated whey plant, would condense the whey down by using reverse
osmosis or ultra-filtration. Rarely did I see heat used for this purpose. The
water that was taken out was called “cow water” and they would pipe it down
into the trucking bays for us to wash our trucks with it. I never tasted it. It
was labeled non-potable, and it had a slight sheen to it when you sprayed it.
In the end, it was water that was once in the cow’s udder, mixed with the milk
solids.
Once condensed, the whey was
transported or dried on site. Nobody wanted to ship raw whey as that was seen
as shipping water. There were different levels of condensed whey. Some looked
like a slightly thicker than milk consistency which I was told was equivalent
to 8 semi-loads of raw whey. Then there was stuff that was nearly as thick as
Elmer’s Glue which was so heavy that the tank could only be partially filled
and it was a really rough trip to the processor as that whey moved around with
a ton of room, and the same weight as a full load. One processor that we took
this highly condensed whey to was in Colfax, Wisconsin and he told me that he
liked the really thick stuff because it meant less work for him making it into
powder. Since it was so thick, the sugars in the whey would separate out and
stick to the bottom of the tank, necessitating a steam clean out.
Not only was whey condensed by
removing water, but milk in it’s raw form is often condensed, and even canned.
Often times, milk is dried all the way down to powder.
Does this mean that you can get
your original product back by adding water back in? The answer in every case
that I’m aware of is no. Processing changes food in irreversible ways. Whether
it be dairy products, or tomatoes, once you process them, you’ll never be able
to get the goodness of the original back.
When I noticed tomatoes floating
in my jar, my years of hauling dairy products told me that the problem was too
much water. Others make arguments about pectin, air bubbles, and a host of
other reasons. Regardless of pectin or air bubbles, it’s obvious that
separation has taken place and what you see on the bottom of the jar is water.
It’s for this reason that I decided
to remove excess water from my tomatoes before canning. My canned tomatoes are
exclusively used for cooking anyhow, so cooking my tomatoes down can either
happen before or after canning, and it makes more sense to cook them down
before and use less jars.
Here is my process. I prepare my
tomatoes by cutting out the stem area and any other bad spots it may have. I
have a pan of hot water that was boiled, then the fire shut off so that the
temperature of the water is just under boiling. I dip my prepared tomatoes into
the hot water for a short while and then transfer them to a strainer in my sink
where the skins are removed. At this point, the tomato is transferred to
another pan. Once finished, I put a lid on this pan of skinned tomatoes and
cock the lid to let steam escape. I turn on the heat and bring my tomatoes up
to a slow simmer and let them cook down. I mash them with a potato masher and
essentially make tomato sauce, but chunky. After simmering the better part of a
day, I transfer them into jars and water bath as usual. If they are low acid
tomatoes, then I add a little lemon juice or pressure can 10 pounds for 10
minutes. Don’t take my word on the weight and time. I’m not the USDA. It’s just
what works for my family.
We always check our jars for a
good seal before opening and we always cook our canned products before
consuming. If they smell or look bad, we dump them. I haven’t had that problem
yet in six years with anything I’ve canned. I have had a few things others have
canned and been given to me that hasn’t passed the test.
Going this route has saved me
space in my pantry and the cost of many lids for many jars. I don’t get “tomato
float” anymore. Cooking the tomatoes down almost sweetens the flavor as well as
make it bolder and more prominent. It’s certainly not watery. Doing tomatoes
this way goes well in making any kind of sauce or chili. It’s also good for
goulash.
I have thought of adding other
things to my tomatoes before canning, like onion and basil, but have found that
the flavor changes because of the processing. I only add some salt now to my
jars before canning and add everything else after I open the jar back up.
