Canning Tomatoes

If you are growing tomatoes at your vegetable garden, you might be very interested in canning whole or halved tomatoes and preserve the canned tomatoes for off-season consumption. If you are not growing tomatoes at your vegetable garden, but you might have bought some fresh tomatoes and kept to your kitchen; you might be interested in canning the whole or halved tomatoes at home. For the procedure of canning whole or halved tomatoes, you can do in the same way as I mentioned below.

You can whole or halved tomatoes at your home. If it is the first time that you are going to preserve tomato fruits in cans at your home, turn the tomato fruits of small quantity into cans. About 3 pounds of fresh tomato fruits are taken in the first attempt for canning whole or halved tomato fruits.

Canned tomato products through large processing factory

Gardeners who are growing tomatoes as the raw materials for tomato processing industries are well-known about the requirement of the shape, size and color of the tomato fruits.

The tomato processing industries generally require medium to large size uniformly well-ripened tomato fruits. Uniform red flesh and good flavored tomato fruits are used for the tomato canning industries. The tomato fruits of off-size are rejected for the canning purpose. The reason for it is that it is difficult to peel the off-type tomato fruits. Off-size tomato fruit also worsens the flavor and quality of the canned tomato.

For tomato canning industries, whole peeled, diced and sliced tomato fruits are generally canned. Some vegetable canning industries also can tomato fruits with other vegetables in the same can.

Some tomato consumers are very interested to know the procedures of tomato canning industries. It is good thing to know the matters. A small seed of big banyan tree give rise to a huge tree. Similarly small idea can spread into your mind and motivate you to start the tomato canning industries.

In the tomato canning factories, the tomato fruits are washed in clean water and then the fruits are sorted in order to separate medium to large size and well-ripened tomato fruits. Core removal and peeling are the most important steps in the tomato canning industries which are the most expensive. There are three important methods of tomato peeling used in the tomato canning industries. They are steam peeling, lye peeling and cryogenic scalding.

Steam peeling

In the method of steam peeling, the tomato fruits are exposed to live steam for a time to loosen the skin and the fruit bulk is passed to a chamber for cold water spray for cracking of the skin of the tomato fruits.

Lye peeling

In the lye peeling method, tomato fruits are kept into hot caustic soda solution (16% strength of the caustic soda). The hot solution dissolves the cuticle substance of the tomato fruits. The peeled tomato fruits are exposed to infrared radiation for about 15 seconds. The tomato fruits are exposed to steam to peel the skin of the tomato fruits and then treated by sprays of cold water.

Cryogenic scalding

In the method of cryogenic scalding, tomato fruits are exposed to liquid nitrogen for few seconds to freeze the skins of the tomato fruits. Then the tomato fruits are rapidly defrosted or thawed to loose the skin of the fruits. Then the skin is removed from the tomato fruits.

The peeled tomato fruits are filled into cans with 2% sugar and 1% salt solution. For the tomato canning, the tomato fruit juice is also used with 1% salt solution. The acidity of the canned tomato fruit and the solution will be kept at about pH 4.2 with some addition of citric acids. The salt of calcium is also added into the medium of the canned tomato fruits. The concentration of the calcium salts should not be exceeded from 0.08% for the canning medium of the tomato fruits.  

 

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