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The  Rural  New-Yorker 
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VOL.  LXXY. 
NEW  YORK.  ATTOTTST  10.  101f? 
T\.T~  A  QOI 
“Cold  Packing”  Canned  Tomatoes 
The  Whole  Process  Described 
Can  you  give  some  definite  information  on  cold  pack¬ 
ing  tomatoes  in  sanitary  cans?  I  would  like  to  know 
length  of  time  to  process,  as  practiced  in  Maryland  and 
eastern  canneries;  also  any  other  information  along 
that  line.  o.  g.  h. 
Indiana. 
THE  HOT  PACK. — About  20  years  or  more  ago, 
before  the  advent  of  improved  canning  ma¬ 
chinery,  many  of  the  canned  tomatoes  on  the  market 
were  prepared  by  what  was  known  as  the  “hot 
pack”  process.  By  this  method  the  tomatoes,  after 
being  peeled,  were  placed  in  large  caldrons  or  ket¬ 
tles  and  boiled  for  the  required  time,  and  then 
poured  into  the  cans,  which  were  immediately 
sealed.  This  method 
is  still  followed  by 
many  housewives, 
who  instead  of  the 
tin  can  use  the  old- 
style  screw-top  jars 
as  containers.  The 
objection  to  this 
method  was  that 
while  the  tomatoes 
were  being  cooked 
all  the  flavor  was 
lost  in  the  steam, 
which  constantly  es¬ 
caped,  so  more  im¬ 
proved  methods  came 
into  use.  It  was 
found  that  if  the  to¬ 
matoes  were  placed 
in  the  cans  raw  and 
the  cans  sealed  and 
placed  in  boiling 
water  the  contents 
would  be  perfectly 
sterilized  and  all  the 
flavor  would  be  re¬ 
tained  in  the  tomato, 
and  the  t  o  m  a  t  o 
would  still  have  the 
shape  and  texture  it 
had  while  on  the 
vine. 
THE  MODERN 
COLD  PACK.— To¬ 
day  all  modern  fac¬ 
tories  use  the  cold- 
pack  p  r  o  c  e  s  s  for 
their  fancy  and 
standard  tomatoes, 
only  using  the  hot 
pack  for  very  soft 
dead  ripe  tomatoes, 
a  n  d  this  stock  is 
boiled  down  into  a 
puree  before  being 
packed  into  the  cans, 
so  it  is  really  a  con¬ 
densed  stewed  toma¬ 
to  that  is  canned  by 
this  process.  There 
is  quite  a  lot  of  ma¬ 
chinery  used  in  a 
modern  tomato  can¬ 
nery.  The  scarcity 
of  and  high  prices  of 
labor  have  brought 
about  the  use  of 
great  capacity  auto¬ 
matic  machinery  in  the  tomato  cannery,  as  well  as 
in  other  lines  of  industry.  Where  formerly  in  a  fac¬ 
tory  with  a  capacity  of  1,000  cases,  2,400  cans,  per 
day  it.  took  10  men  to  cap  the  cans,  now  the  work 
is  all  done  automatically  by  one  machine,  and  no 
one  has  to  tend  the  machine,  as  the  cans  all  come 
to  it  on  a  continuous  carrier  belt.  Briefly  the  oper¬ 
ation  in  the  modern  tomato  cannery  is  as  follows. 
SORTING  AND  WASHING.— The.  tomatoes  are 
brought  from  the  surrounding  farms  in  half  bushel 
baskets.  Arriving  at  the  factory  the  baskets  are 
emptied  of  the  tomatoes  outo  a  traveling  sorting  ta¬ 
ble,  which  is  an  endless  belt  about  two  feet  wide, 
and  perhaps  20  feet  long.  Alongside  this  table 
stand  two  girls,  who  watch  the  passing  tomatoes  and 
pick  out  any  imperfect  ones  that  come  along,  and 
throw  them  into  the  waste.  They  also  pick  out  any 
under-ripe  stock,  and  place  it  into  baskets  to  ripen 
up.  The  consequence  is  that  all  tomatoes  that  pass 
the  girls  are  perfect  stock,  and  much  better  than 
the  ordinary  fresh  goods  one  sees  in  the  market. 
From  this  sorting  table  the  tomatoes  are  delivered 
onto  another  traveling  belt  made  of  galvanized  links 
with  raised  sides  to  keep  the  tomatoes  from  rolling 
off.  This  belt  travels  down  through  a  tank  of  con¬ 
stantly  changing  clean  water,  where  any  dirt  on 
the  tomatoes  is  removed  and  as  the  belt  passes  out 
of  this  tank  the  tomatoes  pass  under  sprays  of 
Fishing  in  the  Woodland  Brook.  Fig.  425 
water  that  thoroughly  rinse  out  any  dirt  that  may 
remain  in  the  creases. 
SCALDING  AND  REELING.— Then  this  same 
belt  continues  on  down  through  a  tank  of  boiling 
water,  where  the  tomatoes  are  scalded  to  loosen  the 
skins,  and  as  they  pass  out  of  this  tank  on  the  belt 
another  set  of  cold  water  sprays  plays  upon  them, 
which  hardens  them  and  makes  it  easy  for  the  peel¬ 
ers  to  remove  the  skins.  Next  the  tomatoes  drop 
into  small  buckets  holding  about  12  quarts.  These 
buckets  are  on  another  traveling  table,  which  is  built 
in  a  circle,  or  rather  oval,  around  which  are  gath¬ 
ered  the  people  who  are  to  peel  and  prepare  the 
scalded  tomatoes  for  the  cans.  On  each  side  of  the 
table  are  little  compartments,  each  compartment 
for  one  peeler,  so  arranged  that  the  peeler  has  a 
pail  of  unpeeled  tomatoes  at  her  left  hand,  a  pail 
at  the  right  for  the  peeled  stock,  and  the  skins, 
cores  and  waste  drop  into  a  galvanized  sink  in  front 
of  her,  and  are  removed  by  water  which  is  con¬ 
stantly  flowing  through  these  sinks.  The  entire 
table  is  of  metal,  and  easily  kept  clean  and  sani¬ 
tary.  As  soon  as  the  pail  at  her  right  is  filled  with 
the  peeled  and  cored  stock  the  peeler  sets  it  upon 
a  movable  belt  which  carries  the  stock  to  the  filling 
machines.  Here  the  stock  is  dumped  upon  a  per¬ 
forated  screen  to  allow  surplus  juice  to  drain  away, 
and  while  the  stock  is  on  this  screen  it  is  inspected 
by  women  or  girls, 
who  pick  out  any 
slightly  green  stock 
that  may  have 
passed  that  far.  Then 
the  tomatoes  are 
pushed  off  this 
screen  into  the  filling 
hoppers  or  machines. 
These  machines  are 
so  a  r  r  a  aged  that 
they  automatically 
measure  and  place 
in  each  can  the  ex¬ 
act  amount  of  toma¬ 
toes,  and  pass  the 
can  right  side  up  on 
to  the  capping  or 
seaming  machines. 
CANNING  AND 
COOKING.  —  Fro  m 
this  point  on  there 
are  two  methods  in 
vogue  today.  O  n  e 
method  uses  the  can 
known  as  the  hole 
and  cap  can,  and  the 
other  method  uses 
the  open-top  can, 
which  many  people 
call  the  “sanitary 
can,”  which  is  really 
a  trade  name  for  the 
open-top  cans.  As 
the  inquirer  speci¬ 
fies  the  “sanitary 
can”  I  will  stick  to  a 
description  of  this 
method.  As  the  cans 
come  from  the  tilling 
machines  they  pass 
into  the  double 
seamer,  which  auto¬ 
matically  laces  the 
top  on  the  can  and 
crimps  it  into  posi¬ 
tion,  making  the  can 
absolutely  air-tight. 
Then  the  cans  drop 
into  iron  crates  that 
are  hoisted  by  cranes 
into  kettles  or  cal¬ 
drons  and  boiled,  the 
pint  size  30  minutes, 
the  quarts  40  and  the 
gallon  sizes  90.  The 
cans  are  then  ready 
for  labeling.  Some 
packers  place  an  exhausting  steam  box  between  the 
filling  machine  and  the  seaming  machine.  The  cans 
pass  through  this  steam  box,  which  warms  the  con¬ 
tents  and  expands  them  somewhat,  so  that  after  the 
can  cools  when  removed  from  the  process  kettle  a 
vacuum  is  formed,  which  draws  iu  the  ends  of  the 
cans  and  causes  them  to  have  a  more  finished  ap¬ 
pearance.  There  lias  recently  been  added  to  the  list 
of  canners’  machines  a  cooking  kettle  which  auto¬ 
matically  shakes  the  cans  while  they  are  cooking, 
and  thus  reduces  the  time  req* ired  to  process,  so 
that  a  can  that  ordinarily  takes  30  minutes  t«  be- 
