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 requires too much labor, and the women who do the peeling at so much per bucket try to fight shy of them, and often mash them up in their buckets to avoid having to peel them. They will make just as good pulp or catsup as the large tomatoes will, and much more can be got out of them in this way than if an attempt is made to get them peeled.
Sometimes the small tomatoes and the peelings of the large tomatoes are pulped together. If this is done the whole small tomatoes tone up the flavor of the peelings, and also help to keep the final product within safe limits as to microscopical count.
Some packers throw away the peelings, either because they are so busy with the whole tomatoes that they can’t bother with them, or because they are afraid the pulp which they are worked up into will run high in micro-organisms, and they don’t want to have such pulp on their hands.
Method of Handling Tomatoes
The usual method of handling the tomatoes is to run them first over a sorting belt, where they are inspected by several women, then over a grader, which lets the small tomatoes fall through on to a belt which conveys them to a washing arrangement, and thence to the “breaking tanks,” or to the pulp machine, or the crusher, depending upon which pulping method is used. The small tomatoes may or may not be given a second sorting.
If the trimmings are to be thrown away, the large tomatoes don’t need to be sorted, as the peelers will take care of that, and in this case a good way is to put all the tomatoes through a rotary washer first, then over a grader, and have the small tomatoes carefully sorted after the grading is done. The large tomatoes pass from the grader to the scalder, and thence to the peeling table or “merry-go-round,” where they are peeled.
The best method to use if the trimmings are to be pulped will be discussed later in the chapter.
The peeled tomatoes are thrown into a cutting machine which cuts them into good-sized chunks, and drops them on a bucket conveyor which takes them to the cooking kettles. The cutter should be so adjusted that it will not make the tomatoes mushy. A few fair-sized pieces of tomato in a bottle of chili sauce is nearly always pleasing to the consumer.
It is important that the peeling be thorough. Each bucket should be inspected before the tomatoes are thrown into the chopper. Pieces of peeling in chili sauce are very noticeable when the product is used, and make an unfavorable impression.