Tomato juice is a juice made from squeezed tomatoes. It is usually used as a beverage, either plain or in cocktails such as a Bloody Mary.

History

Tomato juice is said to have been served first in 1917 by noted chef Louis Perrin at the French Lick Springs Hotel in southern Indiana when he ran out of orange juice and needed a substitute.

Production

Many commercial manufacturers of tomato juice also add salt. Other ingredients are also often added, such as onion powder, garlic powder, and other spices.

Health benefits

A recent small scale study has indicated that tomato juice contains a factor (dubbed P3) that inhibits platelets in blood from clumping together and forming blood clots. . The authors suggest this might be beneficial to diabetes sufferers. The actual effect of increased intake of tomato juice by diabetics has never been studied.

Tomato juice also contains the antioxidant lycopene which some people believe might protect against cancer.

Uses of tomato juice

In Canada and Mexico, tomato juice is popular mixed with beer, the concoction is known in Canada as Calgary Red-Eye and in Mexico as Cerveza preparada. Tomato juice is the base for the cocktails Bloody Mary and Bloody Caesar, and the cocktail mixer Clamato.

Apart from the obvious use as a beverage, tomato juice's mild acidity means that it can be used to clean up old coins or metal saucepans in much the same way as other acidic substances such as Coca Cola are used.

Tomato juice is frequently used as a packing liquid for canned tomatoes, though it is sometimes replaced by tomato puree for international commerce due to tariff issues on vegetables vs. sauces. According to Cook's Illustrated magazine, tomatoes packed in juice as opposed to puree tend to win taste tests, being perceived as fresher tasting.

The juice is also thought to be an effective cleaning agent against skunk musk. Its effectiveness was tested on MythBusters and it was found to be "Plausible", though it may only work to mask the smell.

Tomato juice is used in the preparation of tomato juice agar, used to culture various species of Lactobacillus

In popular culture

• It is the official state beverage of Ohio .
• In the VeggieTales episode "Moe and the Big Exit," Moe turns the river into tomato juice, which is a plague upon Dodgeball City.
• Tomato juice is a popular, and apparently viable (albeit temporary), substitute for blood in fiction involving vampires.
• Dante, the main character from the Devil May Cry franchise, primarily drinks tomato juice. This is most notable in the manga.

References

Further reading

• http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

See also

• V8 (beverage)