My brother and I used to process and can 200 qt of tomato juice, pizza sauce, etc per day, using a 35-gallon cast-iron kettle, a 45-gallon cast-iron kettle, and a victoria strainer.
Our process got refined each year as we focused on becoming more efficient with less energy input.
I don't have the available bandwidth to write a detailed post, so will keep it in bullet point format. Here is our process.
1. All tomatoes washed in advance and still whole in clean containers.
2. Start wood fire underneath both kettles.
3. Add tomatoes to each kettle, toss each tomato in the air above the kettle and slash with a sharp butcher knife.
4. Stir tomatoes the first 5-10 minutes until enough liquid accumulates at the bottom that they don't burn to the kettle.
5. As the tomatoes liquify, use a large ladle or small bowl to skim the water off the top. The water will rise to the top, and the whole tomatoes with the pulp remain beneath the surface. using this method, you can remove 10-12 gallons of water from 35 gals of tomatoes.
6. Keep adding tomatoes, and removing water until the kettle is filled with paste. Should take 15-30 minutes.
7. The kettle should be at a rolling boil at this point.
8. Add onions, garlic, hot peppers, spices, everything else desired to the kettle.
9. Boil until all tomatoes and other ingredients are soft. 30 minutes - 45 minutes
10. Cooldown the fire to very low
11. Ladle all the tomatoes and liquid out of the kettle into stockpots, and begin running them through the victoria strainer. They go through quickly because everything is soft at this point.
12. The kettle will still be hot when all the liquid tomatoes are taken out. Immediately add 5 gallons of water and rinse clean.
13. Partially fill kettle with water.
14. Build fire back up and bring water to boil
15. Pack all the juice/paste/puree in jars, (while still hot) add back into kettle of water.
16. Boil until cold packed.
We could do one batch in each kettle in the morning and afternoon, spending about 8 hours total, and ending the day with 200 qts of canned tomatoes and a deep sense of satisfaction.
