PEOCESS OF MANUFACTUBE. 



9 



spent on equipment to improve a particular point considered advan- 

 tageous by the trade, while other details essential to the making of 

 a good-keeping ketchup are disregarded. A statement of the best 

 practice as observed at a number of factories, together with some 

 facts obtained from experiments, will be given. 



SELECTION AND PREPARATION OF STOCK. 



The tomatoes should be home-grown, of a red variety having the 

 minimum of yellow and purple color, be picked when ripe, and deliv- 

 ered to the factory promptly without mashing. All tomatoes should 

 pass over an inspection table, the rotten and otherwise unfit fruit 



FIG. 2. Large receiving room showing the sorting belt. 



should be discarded, and the green tomatoes should be returned to 

 crates to ripen. The stems should be removed when the best color 

 is desired, and the tomatoes should be thoroughly washed to remove 

 dirt and mold. Dumping a crate of tomatoes into a hopper of dirty 

 water and playing a gentle spray of water on part of them merely 

 wets the skin and makes them appear bright. 



PULPING. 



The clean tomatoes should be conveyed to the steaming tanks 



and subjected to steam heat until the skins burst and the meat 



softens. After a short heating the tomatoes should be run through 



a " cyclone 77 where the skins, seeds, etc., are removed and they are 



57211 Bull. 11908 2 



