Today I've been canning my
Tomato Juice Cocktail and the
Ketchup I make reprocessing the tomato pulp from the juicer. I've been boiling the ketchup down into a thicker consistency this year. It does make a better product, but that's not very frugal, unless I use an outdoor fire to cook it over.
Where I have found a way to be more frugal is in reusing the spices from the ketchup recipe. Why didn't I think of this sooner?! The cinnamon, celery seeds and cloves used to flavor the vinegar, once strained out and kept in the freezer can be used multiple times. I can't taste the difference.
Spices are expensive! Some are outrageously expensive!! When I see a recipe from now on that says to strain and discard the spices, I'm going to have to reconsider that. I'm sure that there are ones that this wouldn't work for, nothing ground up or too leafy. What spices can you think of that may be used multiple times?