1. The experiments made during the season of 1907 on the manufacture
of tomato ketchup without chemical preservatives were conducted under
factory conditions and upon a commercial scale. The results prove that
such a ketchup can be made and delivered to the consumer in perfect
condition; the product in question having already stood ten months,
unopened, without showing the slightest indication of spoilage.
2. The product is of excellent consistency, flavor, and color. The
formula employed regularly in the factory where the experiment was
conducted was used, but other recipes could be adapted without changing
the character of special brands. In the manufacture of such a product
the following precautions were observed:
(_a_) Whole, sound, ripe tomatoes and high-grade salt, sugar, vinegar,
and spices were used; care and cleanliness were observed at every
step of the preparation, and the preservation accomplished by heat in
the following manner: The pulp was cooked in a steam kettle for about
forty minutes, until the mass was reduced to about one-half its volume.
Additional processing after bottling did not appear to be necessary to
keep the ketchup before opening, and had no effect in these experiments
in delaying spoilage after opening.
(_b_) Ketchup was bottled directly from the cooker at a temperature
of 205° F. in bottles prepared in two ways: (1) Sterilized in a steam
chamber at 230° F.; (2) Washed in hot water, rinsed, and heated to 190°
F. in a dry heat for at least thirty minutes. Ketchup was also bottled
after the usual process of sieving at 165° F. in bottles prepared in a
similar manner. The corks for all bottles were sterilized in a paraffin
bath at 270° F. The same ketchup which was bottled at 165° F. was also
given subsequent processing at 190° F. and 212° F. for twenty and forty
minutes. All have kept without spoilage.
3. Some of the condiments have a limited antiseptic value, but can
not be depended upon to prevent spoilage in the quantities used for
flavoring. While sugar and vinegar can be added in such amounts as
to delay the appearance of molds, and cinnamon and cloves can be
depended upon to check deterioration to some extent, these condimental
substances have only an incidental value for this purpose.
4. The spoilage of ketchup after opening depends more upon the
temperature of the place in which it is kept than on any variation
in the manner of processing. Fresh ketchup held, after opening, at a
temperature of 95° F. kept for five days on an average without any
trace of mold appearing; at 72° it kept for six days; at 67° for eight
days; about 46° (refrigerator), fourteen days; and at from 30° to 60°
for twenty-seven days. These figures represent the time at which the
first trace of spoilage occurred in the neck of the bottle--had this
been removed the figures would be much increased--and by no means
represent the maximum time during which the ketchup could have been
used, the maximum figures, even under these conditions of observation,
varying from eight to fifty-eight days. The keeping of the ketchup
in warm storage at 70° for one hundred and fifty days before opening
hastened the average time of spoilage after opening about one day. The
advisability of using small containers, to get the best results with a
first-class ketchup, is apparent.
5. Sodium benzoate, even when used in the proportion of 0.1 per
cent, is not always effective, and has an injurious effect upon the
living matter of the molds, shown by the distortion and swelling of
the filaments, which are filled with a coarse granular protoplasm
containing much fat.
6. Artificially colored ketchup can be detected under the microscope
by the fact that certain tissues, normally colorless, are dyed red, or
by the presence of fine, red, amorphous particles which do not go into
solution.
7. Ketchup made from whole ripe stock in a cleanly manner gives a clean
appearance under the microscope, but few molds, yeasts, and bacteria
being present. On the other hand, ketchup made from trimming stock,
or from tomatoes that have been allowed to spoil, contains immense
quantities of these growing organisms which may be killed in the
process of manufacture, but still give proof of the character of the
material used. Ketchup as ordinarily made from trimming stock should,
therefore, be designated, so as to differentiate it from that made from
sound fresh tomatoes, as the two products are radically different.
This exactness in labeling is due no less to the manufacturer than to
the consumer, as it is impossible to make the superior product in fair
competition with the inferior one, other conditions being equal, unless
the two are properly designated, there being naturally some difference
in the price.
Transcriber's Notes:
In the text version, italics are represented by _underscores_.
Missing or incorrect punctuation has been repaired.