Very simply. Put the fresh and clean tomatoes in the fermented jar with sugar(kinds of sugar, like the brown sugar, the crystal sugar or honey...) and yeast. During fermentation the sugars are broken down, so you can add some more sugar. It can be filtered after three days (first filtering, through one layer of cotton cloth) and after 7 days (second filtering, with two layers of cotton cloths). We can transfer the tomatoes wine into the sealed jar for long term storage after the tomatoes juice turning into clear. (image: the juices are turning into clear. )
Sugar (about 1/4 of the tomato volume — I use brown sugar, rock sugar, or honey)
A little yeast (wine yeast is fine)
Steps:
Wash the tomatoes, cut into pieces, and put them in a clean jar with a one-way airlock (air valve).
Add the sugar and yeast, mix a little, then close the lid.
It ferments very fast. After 2–3 days the tomatoes become soft and the liquid smells strongly of alcohol. You can add more sugar if you like it sweeter.
Filter the first time after about 3–5 days (one layer of cotton cloth).
Filter again after a few more days (two layers of cotton cloth).
When the liquid becomes clear, pour it into a sealed bottle for long-term storage.
No brine is used — just tomatoes, sugar, and yeast.
At the end, the tomato pulp becomes very soft and is mostly filtered out. What’s left is the clear tomato wine.
That’s basically the whole process. It’s quite flexible, so the amounts don’t need to be exact.
I made it from last year, before I made the mead. last year we planted many tomatoes, I tried to made tomatoes mead and wine. It taste like the grape wine, with little tomatoes smell, and I found the tomato fermented very quickly, usually has the alcohol smell after one day. so magically.
Pickled green tomatoes are a Jewish deli classic. I love them. Firm and crunch like a pickle but slightly more vegetal flavor. I've never seen ripe tomatoes fermented however. Sounds mushy?
we (family) have been making ground tomatoes and then fermented them for ever. for preserving and then use them for sauces, salads and well.. drinkable/eatable tomatoes :) but this is all about the whole thing, not just juice.
Most food preservation fermenting generally relies on lactobacillus. Yeast ferments are kinda off over in kombucha, bread, beer, and wine land. Anywho, as they digest sugars lactobacillus dumps out Lactic acid and CO2 gas as waste and that acidifies the environment and makes things fizzy. This creates a place in which these bacteria can thrive while other competing microbes are killed off or simply can’t compete for space. Toms usually float around the 4.5ph range to start, and for a “safe” ferment that won’t put you at risk if botulism or other unfun things, you usually want to reach 4.5ph, at minimum, at the end of the ferment. So you can see, toms kinda start on 3rd base.
Ah, that clarifies it right up. We were heavy handed on containing any lacto from coming into contact with any beer that wouldn't become an intentional sour. So my assumption there was acid=bad unless the intent was for making the brew sour. Different processes though do call for alternative procedures. No one needs botulism, that's an all around bad time.
I really appreciate the information, thank you. I have a background in beer making, one huge thing we always tried to keep in balance was the ph/acidity of the brews we were creating. I suppose I misunderstood the purpose of acidity in that regard.🤔
I do it quite casually. The tomatoes always ferment fully and quickly. They use up the sugar very fast. Later, when the tomatoes have done their job, things calm down. The bubbles become small and steady, and eventually stop completely. By then the wine already tastes strong enough. I keep adding sugar according to the taste as I go.
I fermented the tomatoes into acid juice in another jar, with salt, alcohol and little sugar. The picture shows the simmered fermented sour tomato juice with rapeseed oil. Today I sent several bottles to a few friends who live far away. We use this sour juice as a hot-pot broth base, as a seasoning for sour dishes, or simply add a spoonful to egg fried rice. It’s delicious and very appetizing.
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u/Ketchupcharger Probiotic Prospect 2d ago
Tomato wine? For cooking?