Pickled vegetables, including tomatoes, are subject to GOST R 52477-2005… It strictly stipulates the appearance, taste, smell, color and consistency of the product, as well as the quality of the filling.
1. For the production of the product, vegetables of uniform size and configuration should be used, healthy, clean, not wrinkled, not wrinkled and without mechanical damage.
2. Whole vegetables must occupy at least 50% of the total mass of canned food. For round vegetables, the permissible diameter is no more than 60 mm, for plum vegetables – 25-40 mm, and a length of 35-70 mm. At the same time, in canned fruits of the highest grade, fruits with cracked but non-slipping skin should not exceed 20%, and deformed tomatoes should not exceed 10% (for the first grade – 15%). It looks like this: if there are eight tomatoes in a jar, then damage to the skin is allowed in two fruits and only one can be deformed.
On our own, we add, it’s good when the fruits are of about the same size and degree of ripeness, then they taste the same.
3. Vegetables must be firm and undiluted, and the filling must be transparent, with or without spice particles. Moreover, for the first grade, a small amount of suspended particles of pulp and individual seeds is allowed, causing slight turbidity of the marinade.
When buying pickled tomatoes, be sure to pay attention to the production date. From fresh tomatoes, the product can be produced only during the harvest, respectively, if, of course, the raw materials were not grown in the fields of China, Vietnam and other distant warm countries. If canned food is made, for example, during the winter or spring months, then frozen tomatoes are most likely used.