The government does not object to the manufacture of tomato products from trimmings, but they demand that the product comply with the regulations as to micro-organisms, and that it be sold for exactly what it is, and if put up for sale to the consuming public, that it be labeled—“made from pieces of tomatoes,” or, “made from tomato trimmings,” or, if small tomatoes are worked up with the trimmings, “made from small tomatoes and tomato trimmings,” or, “made from small tomatoes and pieces of tomatoes.”
Method of Handling Tomatoes When Trimmings Are Pulped
If the trimmings are to be pulped the tomatoes must be very carefully sorted, and thoroughly washed, preferably in a rotary washer. As it is practically impossible to sort or wash the trimmings, the tomatoes must be in almost perfect condition when they enter the scalder. Washing the trimmings carries away too much of the tomato substance which clings to them, and sorting is not practicable, as the soft rot and mold becomes incorporated in the entire mass and it is impossible to separate it. The peelers can not be depended upon to sort out any substantial amount of rot when they do the peeling. Therefore the only thing that can be done toward keeping down the micro-organisms is painstaking sorting of the whole tomatoes and thorough washing to keep out the mold, having the conveying equipment and tanks clean, and bringing the trimmings to a boil quickly to prevent multiplication of yeasts and bacteria. It is wise to steam out the peeling buckets and bucket conveyors at noon, as well as at quitting time, as the juice which lies in them is constantly undergoing fermentation.
When the trimmings are pulped, either alone or with the small tomatoes, the tomatoes are all washed and sorted before they are graded. The trimmings should be cooked before they are run through the pulp finisher, so as to get all of the clinging tomato substance cooked away from the skin. The density to which to cook the trimmings can be judged fairly well by the eye, or the specific gravity test by weighing can be used.
The pulp is canned the same as whole pulp.
CHAPTER XII
THE MANUFACTURE OF TOMATO SOUP
Convenience and Economy of Canned Soup
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 when the quality is just as good and often better than can be obtained the long troublesome way, it is natural that canned tomato soup should become increasingly popular. Buying the canned soup is also cheaper than buying the canned tomatoes and making the soup from them.
Factors Upon Which Success Depends
The maker of tomato soup should be a crank on quality. There is no other tomato product in which quality is at a greater premium. In catsup and chili sauce, heavy spicing and mixing with lots of vinegar and sugar help to mask the tomato flavor, but in soup the spicing is light, no vinegar is used, and being eaten as a food in itself, instead of as a condiment with which to flavor a food, the palate quickly detects inferiority. Also, the palate is just as quick to detect that pleasing fresh tomato taste which should be the basis of all good soup.