Cowboys Drank Juice From This Canned Food To Stay Hydrated In The Old West

It's tempting to imagine cowboys cruising across the Old West sipping whiskey from a hip flask and downing a cold beer at every saloon, but real cowboy diets were quite a bit different from the popular imagination (for example, they had to smash one rock-hard food with guns before digging in). The reality of staying hydrated during long, hot days on horseback before you could snag the 19th-century equivalent of consistently cheap AriZona iced tea every few miles meant cowboys had to find more creative ways to quench their thirst. Case in point: Many cowboys stayed hydrated by sipping the juice from a convenient shelf-stable food you probably have in your pantry — canned tomatoes.

The canned vegetable (or fruit, depending on who you ask) was a treasured trail treat for cowboys. Canned tomatoes were often used to perk up stews and chilis, and found in real cowboy staple dishes like "pooch," a mix of stewed tomatoes, bread, and sugar. However, cowboys wouldn't let that precious juice go to waste. They'd pop open a can and down the juice directly from the tin for a refreshing pick-me-up.

In addition to the refreshment and flavor, drinking canned tomato juice had other clear benefits for cowboys. Tomatoes are one of the many surprisingly hydrating fruits and vegetables, consisting of more than 90% water. Canned tomato juice also contains salt and other electrolytes, making it somewhat akin to an early sports drink. Additionally, the juice packs a punch of vitamins and antioxidants, which would certainly have been welcome when fresh produce was scarce during long journeys.

These days, we no longer have to crack open canned tomatoes to get our juice fix, but the bright red beverage remains a classic travel drink. So the next time you sip an extra-tasty tomato juice on an airplane, you can escape the feeling of being trapped in a flying tin can by imagining you're a cowboy riding across the prairie. If you're craving more cowboy culinary creations, here are 18 cowboy-inspired meals that will transport you to the Old West.