ABSTRACT
The tomato is a warm season crop reasonably resistant to heat and drought. It grows throughout the United States and in many regions of the world under a wide range of climatic and soil conditions. Common food products that contain tomato as the only ingredient or the major ingredient besides water include canned tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato concentrates, tomato soup, and tomato-based sauces. The purpose of these operations is to assure good quality of specific tomato products by the removal of off-graded fruit, defective fruit or parts, and oversized cores. In the canning of tomatoes, hand coring and trimming operation should be practiced following, instead of prior to, hot-water scalding or lye peeling for better retention of drained weight and firmness. However, it may be commercially feasible to extract only 70-80% juice and leave a very moist residual containing useful tomato materials, which can be reextracted for use in other tomato products.
