Читать книгу The Manufacture of Tomato Products - W. G. Hier - Страница 15

For storing the tomatoes at the factory until they can be put over the sorting belts the open-air storage is used almost universally, and it seems to be the only method which can be economically employed at a plant which handles large quantities of tomatoes. I have seen the wet storage method in use at a small plant where the receipts only amount to a few hundred bushels a day on good days, and less than a hundred on many days when the weather is very bad, and it was liked very much by the plant manager. The tomatoes, as soon as received, were dumped into a large concrete tank of cold water, which was kept fairly fresh by letting fresh water run into it constantly, with an overflow at the other side of the tank, and a large revolving paddle at one side of the tank kept the water in motion. Attached to this paddle was a series of flights on an endless chain, which, when thrown into gear, carried the tomatoes to the sorting belt.

The argument advanced in favor of the wet storage method by the operator of this plant was that at certain times in the season their receipts of tomatoes were very small, that is, at the beginning and at the close of the season, and during stretches of cold, rainy weather, and at such times they only made a run every other day, or possibly only twice a week, and that the tomatoes kept much better in wet storage.

The tomatoes were clean when delivered to the sorting belt, and although they received very little sorting, and only one spraying after they left the storage tank, the count of molds, yeasts and spores and bacteria on their pulp was fairly low.

The wet storage method could undoubtedly be used at large plants, and might prove profitable during periods of glut, as there is no doubt but what tomatoes will keep better in wet storage than in the open air. It would take a lot of tanks for a large plant, however, and large operators are not inclined to look favorably on the idea.

In open-air storage the crates of tomatoes should be stacked so as to leave an air space between each crate, and if stacked inside of a building, all the windows and doors should be thrown open to allow as free a circulation of air as possible.