The Manufacture of Tomato Products / Including whole tomato pulp or puree, tomato catsup, chili sauce, tomato soup, trimming pulp

by W. G. Hier

What we really get from the spices is a water extract. The acetic acid of the vinegar probably extracts a little more, but as the vinegar is only cooked in the catsup about three minutes, a great deal of extraction could not be expected from that source. Not only the volatile oils, but organic compounds called esters, and also some of the non-volatile oils are extracted from the spices. The volatile oils produce most of the flavor, however the esters also add to the flavor considerably. The non-volatile or “fixed” oil of cayenne pepper has quite a strong spicy flavor, although not nearly as strong as the volatile oil of cayenne. The fixed oils of cassia, allspice, and mace have no flavor at all.

Even though a bag of spices be boiled in two batches of forty-five minutes each, a great deal of their flavor is still left in them. This has been proven by chemical analyses of spice residues. Even quite a large percentage of the volatile oils still remain in the spice residue, and, of course, a larger percentage of the non-volatile or fixed oils. It is a question, however, as to whether the extraction of the volatile oil of these spice residues would be a paying proposition. So far as I know, none of the distillers of essential oils seem to be interested in them.

Storing Spices

Spices should not be held in storage for a long time, particularly in open bins, as some of their volatile oils pass off little by little into the air and are lost. This is especially true of cassia, either ground or broken. They should be stored in a dry place, as some of them are apt to mold if left in an atmosphere of condensing steam, and of course this mold would contaminate the catsup to some extent. I have seen mace which was in a very moldy condition due to its having been stored in the cook room for some time, and having collected moisture. Some of the milder varieties of pepper are also known to become moldy on exposure to extreme dampness.

Quality of Flavor

A great deal could be written about the quality of various varieties of the same spice. All of these varieties will not be discussed here but I will try to show how the packer is sometimes mislead by spice salesmen who show chemical analyses of their spices as positive proof of the actual value that they contain. As a matter of fact, the true value of a spice cannot be shown by a chemical analysis.

Take, for example, cassia. The finest flavored cassia is the Saigon cassia, which can be obtained in the thin quill, the medium bark, and in the thick bark. At the other extreme we have the China cassia, which is considerably cheaper than the Saigon. If the catsup packer is going to judge his spices according to strength, he may find that he gets more strength from the cheap cassia than from the expensive one. The chemical analysis may show that the China cassia contains more essential oil than the Saigon does. In fact, this is often the case. However, what about the quality of that essential oil? There is the point. The essential oil extracted from the Saigon is different from that extracted from the China cassia. It has a more delicate, refined flavor. Its flavor is more pleasing to the palate, and is free from “harshness,” and “strength” of an unrefined nature.

This does not mean that one cannot make a nice flavored catsup with China cassia, as such is not the case, but a better flavor can be obtained with Saigon. The point is that quality of flavor as well as quantity of flavor must be considered. Chemical analyses are only of value when exactly the same variety of two or more samples of spice are compared.

When it comes to cayenne pepper, the quality of the flavor is not the important factor that it is in the milder spices. Cayenne is used to give “hotness” to the catsup, and the hotter the cayenne is, the greater its value to the packer. The Mombassa and the Japan chillies are the hottest, although in recent years they have been so expensive that it is more economical to use some of the others, even though a slightly larger quantity may be required.

For allspice, it is not necessary to use a large, fancy berry, but a small size which is fairly free from sticks, stones, and decayed or pithy berries will answer the purpose just as well. The relative values of samples can be compared by inspecting them and noting the percentage of foreign and decayed material.