The past ten years have seen revolutionary changes made in the tomato product manufacturing business. Old methods of making tomato pulp, catsup, chili sauce, etc. have been discarded, and the modern plant presents a very striking contrast to the plant of former days. In this book I have tried to present all the methods used which have merit, and to bring forth the advantages and disadvantages of each so that the packer can weigh them and decide which is best to use under the conditions which obt

Obtaining a good quality of tomatoes at a price which is not prohibitive is a problem which in many localities is becoming more difficult to canners and catsup makers each year. Every experienced manufacturer knows that regardless of the expertness with which he may work up his tomatoes into the finished product, he cannot expect to get good quality unless he has good stock to begin with. It is true that by using intelligence and extreme care in the manufacturing processes one manufacturer will

A great many outfits for washing and sorting tomatoes have been placed on the market, some of which have many good points, and others are very inadequate. The type of washer best adapted to one plant may not be the best for another one. If tomatoes are grown on clay ground a friction washer is necessary, while for fruits grown on sandy soil it is very infrequent that much friction is needed to properly clean the tomatoes. As to sorting belts, as a rule one type will serve as well in one place as

The chief methods in use for preparing the tomatoes for the cooking kettle are: first, cold pulping; second, hot pulping; third, crushing without cycloning. The cold pulping method is probably the most common, and requires less equipment than the hot method, with results that are considered by many packers just as good, if the pulp machine is operated by a careful man who will not feed it too fast, and who will keep it clean. Sometimes, with this method, the tomatoes are run through a crusher be

Practically all of the tomato products made in this country are cooked in an open kettle under atmospheric pressure—either a copper-jacketed kettle, or a tank with a closed coil. The vacuum pan is used, however, in several plants, and makes a very high grade product—a better product as a rule than can be made by condensing under atmospheric pressure. When tomato juice is condensed in vacuum it boils at anywhere from 54 degrees F. to 175 degrees F., depending upon the degree of vacuum obtained. A

The fewer pipes and receiving tanks the condensed pulp passes through before being filled in the cans, the better. All of this conveying and finishing equipment offers possibilities of contamination, and allows the cooked pulp to cool to some extent before it is filled. Eliminate as much equipment as possible between the cooking kettle and the filler, and have the pulp enter the cans at at least 170 degrees F., and if possible, at 180 degrees or above. A receiving tank between the cooking kettle

The most commonly used containers for pulp are the five-gallon can, the No. 10 and the No. 1 can. The usual method of filling 5–gal. cans is to draw the pulp from the finishing machine by means of a large, heavy wall, single line hose filling one can at a time. Some packers use a manifold by which five cans can be filled at once. This requires a lot of valves and enamel lined pipe fittings, and unless the operator is very expert the manifold will not do the work any faster than a single line hos

By micro-organisms we mean molds, yeasts, bacteria, and their spores. The term “micro-organisms” takes in all of these. This chapter will deal with the subject in as short and concise a manner as possible, with the object of giving the manufacturer a working knowledge of it that will help him in his everyday factory routine. Although volumes have been written about micro-organisms in food, it is not necessary for the packer of tomato products to have an accurate, detailed scientific knowledge of

When the pure food movement first swept over this country the subject of preservatives got very wide publicity, and the sensational press fed the people up on the news that their food was being doctored with all sorts of chemicals. Tomato catsup came in for its share of this publicity, and the two preservatives most commonly used in catsup, namely, benzoate of soda and salicylic acid, were classed among the chemicals that were ruining our stomachs. Although salicylic acid has been ruled out, ben

Practically all of this chapter will be devoted to non-preservative catsup. The use of benzoate of soda and the changes in the formula which its use involves will be briefly discussed at the end of the chapter. When catsup is being manufactured direct from tomatoes the tomatoes should be previously cycloned, either by the cold or hot process. I have never cooked catsup direct from crushed tomatoes, as it is evident that crushed stock is open to at least two objections. The first is that the fini

From the cooking kettles the catsup is usually run through the finisher, and then conducted to a receiving tank, either by gravity or by pumping. If a pump is used, care should be taken that the pump parts which come in contact with the catsup are of bronze. Needless to say, enamel lined pipe should be used. The receiving tank should be either of wood, or enamel, or glass-lined steel. Regarding the finishing of the catsup, the action on the metal screen is more severe than in pulp, and it is bes

Chili sauce is the finest tomato product manufactured. It differs from catsup in that it is made from whole peeled tomatoes with the seeds and fiber left in, and in that it usually contains more onion than catsup, and is usually a little “hotter.” For chili sauce the tomatoes are peeled as they are for canning. As a rule they are run over a grader and only the large ones are used for peeling, the small ones being pulped or made into catsup. It does not pay to peel the small tomatoes, as it requi

Canned tomato soup is a commodity which is increasing in favor with the housewife. The old method of preparing this soup in the home was to open a can of tomatoes, strain it through a colander, and stew it, adding butter, salt, sugar, spices, flour, and perhaps soda and milk. The modern way is to immerse a can of condensed tomato soup in boiling water for five minutes, open it, and mix the contents with an equal volume of hot water or hot milk. How much more convenient the modern way is, and whe