Tomato Paste Processing Types
Main Processing Steps (Common to All Types)
All stages of tomato paste production follow a basic path:
- Receiving and Sorting: Automatic sorters sort tomatoes to remove green, rotten, or foreign matter.
- Washing: Thorough washing removes dirt, pesticides, and microbes.
- Crushing and Heating: The machines crush the tomatoes into a paste (often called “breaking”). The most important difference between tomato paste types is at this stage, which we will discuss in detail later.
- Pulping & refining: Machines pass the crushed tomato mixture through pulpers and finishers to remove seeds, skins, and other coarse particles, which results in tomato puree.
- Concentration:
- automatic systems evaporate water from the puree to increase the soluble solids content (measured in °Brix). This crucial step creates the "paste."
- Pasteurization: The concentrated paste is reheated to inactivate enzymes and kill spoilage microorganisms, ensuring shelf stability.
- Packaging: The hot paste is packaged sterile in barrels, bags, or cans, or filled into containers for the “hot filling” process.
Types of tomato paste processing in the breaking stage
Manufacturers produce tomato paste in two main breaking types: hot break and cold break. They use these types to create different end products. To produce hot break (HB) paste, processors must immediately cook fresh tomatoes at a high temperature (between 85 and 100 degrees Celsius) after they crush them. Conversely, producing cold break (CB) paste requires them to cook freshly sliced tomatoes at a lower temperature (65 to 75 degrees Celsius). Factories typically prepare ketchup and various tomato sauces that require a Brix of 28 to 30 degrees using HB paste, while they use CB paste to prepare triple concentrate paste, which requires a Brix of 36 to 38 degrees.
To explain further, the amount of heat that processors give to the tomatoes constitutes the only difference between the two cooking methods.
1. Hot Break Tomato Paste
As the name implies, manufacturers pre-cook tomatoes at 90 to 95 degrees, which causes the tomato texture to loosen totally. Therefore, when workers smooth some of the fruit or tomato texture, they separate it with its water. Experts say that this process gives the paste a higher viscosity, so the created paste will naturally have a higher viscosity.
Because manufacturers pre-cook tomatoes at a higher temperature of 90 to 95 degrees, they must emphasize that workers may experience burns at this temperature. To eliminate bubbles in chopped tomatoes, operators remove or reduce the burn agent from the system. They perform this action with a vacuum tank made of stainless steel. Like most indirect heat exchangers in the food industry, the hot break heating system. A shell and a tube make up the converter. An all-steel centrifugal pump generates the flow because the converter features a shell and tube construction.
Hot Break Characteristics
- High viscosity - Since the process destroys the pectinase, the long-chain pectin molecules remain intact. This preserves the natural thickness and "body" of the tomato, resulting in a very sticky and gooey paste.
- Deep red color - Rapid heating also inactivates other enzymes such as peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase that cause oxidation and browning. This helps to preserve the bright red lycopene pigment.
- Cooked and intense flavor – High heat destroys volatile compounds (which include some of the aroma of fresh tomatoes) and creates Maillard reaction compounds, resulting in a deeper, richer, “cooked” or “thick” tomato flavor. It can sometimes have a slightly “cabbage” or stewy flavor.
- Higher Yield – Higher concentration can sometimes result in slightly better yields in the extraction (paste-making) stage, as fewer solids are lost with the water.
- Ideal for pizza sauce, ketchup, thick pasta sauces and salsas, and all products where a strong cooked tomato flavor is required.
2. Cold Break Tomato Paste
As the name implies, this method preheats the tomatoes at a lower temperature than the preceding method (hot break) (at a temperature of 75 degrees), hence a vacuum system is not very necessary. It does not prevent burns, and the tomato juice and paste obtained have a reduced viscosity as a result of not passing through a strainer due to the low temperature of the pre-heating operation of tomato tissues. Manufacturers construct cold break cookers, like other food industry converters, with a shell and tube design, but in series. Cold break machines are substantially less expensive than hot break machines since they utilize fewer materials.
Characteristics
- Lower viscosity - The deliberate action of pectinase breaks down the pectin, resulting in a much thinner, more fluid puree and paste. The product will never reach the consistency of a hot-bric product at the same Brix.
- Lighter, orange color - The slower heating process allows more oxygen to dissolve and react with the pigments, resulting in some oxidation. This often results in a lighter, orange-red color compared to the deep red of hot-bric.
- Fresher, brighter flavor - The lower initial heat retains more of the volatile compounds that give fresh tomatoes their aroma. This results in a paste with a fruitier, more tart, and less "cooked" flavor profile.
- Softer consistency - The breakdown of pectin also results in a softer, less pasty texture, which is sometimes desirable.
- Ideal for tomato juice and blood marmalade mixtures, creamy tomato soups and broths, liquid pasta sauces and all products where the fresh, acidic taste of tomatoes is preferred over cooked tomatoes.
