Bloody Mary Fiasco

[Unabogie]

Asserting up front that this was an awful waste of fresh tomatoes, we just tried making bloody mary mix from scratch and had something very strange happen. We're hoping someone with some chemistry knowledge can help explain it.

Following a standard recipe, we put into a blender the following ingredients:

3 lbs tomatoes
1 cup parsley
juice of 1 lemon
tsp salt
3 stalks of celery
tobasco
wasabe

I blended it until smooth, and then set it aside. Within about 3 minutes, the mixture began to congeal, almost turning to jello. It continued to get more and more firm over the next 15 minutes before it became completely disgusting and we threw it out.

I double checked the recipe, and it said to add the lemon juice, salt, and hot sauce after blending, not before. Did we inadvertently cause a chemical reaction? If so, what happened?

HELP SOLVE THE MYSTERY!

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I do Lazy Mary's. Spicy Hot V-8 and vodka or vodka-like liquids.

 

[Tatsu]

Did the solids and liquid elements separate and solidify or did it turn into a single solid mass?

 

[kid meatball]

You forgot the clam nectar. Canada is going to have to invade to teach you guys how to drink!

 

[Tiktaalik]

I'm wondering if the cellulose in the celery was broken down enough to react with other elements? I wouldn't have thought of blendering the celery in there.

Either that, or you need betel nuts.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

I think you activated the pectin in the tomatoes.

http://blog.khymos.org/2010/04/18/tfp-2010-tomato-gels-with-the-pectin-thats-there-part-6/

However, I don't know how or why. It must be that, though.

I've experienced the same thing a few times while making gazpacho. I think the celery can be ruled out because gazpacho doesn't have celery in it.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Here's another 'doesn't explain it' link: Understanding Gelling that blames tomatoes and onion or garlic.

And tomatoes with horseradish.

I've never heard of such a thing but I find the whole matter educational.

 

[Loss Leader]

Tomato juice isn't really crushed tomatoes. It's pealed, seeded, diced, stewed and cooled. I wouldn't try to make a tomato drink with fresh tomatoes. Buy V-8 or canned tomatoes in juice.

But I think you're real problem is blending the celery which makes just absolutely no sense.

 

[Unabogie]

We've done this before. You blend it all up, cool the mixture, then strain it. It's never turned to jelly. So weird!

Edit: recipe here...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Tomato-Bloody-Marys-354189

 

[Unabogie]

Here's another 'doesn't explain it' link: Understanding Gelling that blames tomatoes and onion or garlic.

And tomatoes with horseradish.

I've never heard of such a thing but I find the whole matter educational.

I bet it was the wasabe! I wasn't supposed to blend that stuff at all...

 

[Silhouette]

Did the solids and liquid elements separate and solidify or did it turn into a single solid mass?

(I'm his wife) The solids and liquids did separate, the solids lay on top and the clear liquid below. The solids congealed, not entirely into jelly, but something like it. It was very strange and not appetizing at all!

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Have you tried sacrificing a goat to the blender?

 

[Unabogie]

Have you tried sacrificing a goat to the blender?

Duh. We did that first. You think we would be asking this crowd if we hadn't exhausted all the obvious things already?

 

[I Ratant]

.
I recall hearing there's an incantation performed in the bathroom for this.

 

[CORed]

You forgot the clam nectar. Canada is going to have to invade to teach you guys how to drink!

Come on, we're Americans. All we really need is a mason jar full of white lightnin'. All that fru-fru stuff like tomatoes, fruit, soda pop, umbrellas and whatnot is for lighweights who can't handle real drinkin'.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Duh. We did that first. You think we would be asking this crowd if we hadn't exhausted all the obvious things already?

But was it a snow white virgin gay goat?

 

[drewid]

But was it a snow white virgin gay goat?

 

[Unabogie]

But was it a snow white virgin gay goat?

Which other kind is there?

 

[Cylinder]

It sounds to me like you used a table variety tomato with a very high extra-cellular water content. These will almost always have to be very heavily reduced to make something that resembles a nice, homogenous tomato juice.

The best bet for making a nice, slightly thicker tomato juice is selecting some nice Roma or San Marzano toms. [ETA: Or any paste variety. These are usually oblong in shape -- but never use cherry or grape tomatoes which have a very high water content.]

Blanch and peel tomatoes allow to cool a bit but do not soak in water after the skin is removed.. Seed half of them by sqeezing them in your hand over the sink. Messy, but fun. Let the seeded hulks rest in a colander for a few minutes. (For extra liquid removal, place a clean, doubled dish towel over them and add some weight on top. This is more like sauce territory, though.)

Start feeding the seeded tomatoes to the blender. If the result is too thick for your application, start adding unseeded toms. Otherwise, continue seeding and adding. A stick blender is nice here - start blending at the bottom and draw the blender up - continue this kind of pumping motion to homogenize the mixture.