Abstract: Tomatoes are dehydrated by selecting red, ripe tomatoes and washing the selected tomatoes with a biocide and then rinsing with fresh water. The rinsed fruit is cut into approximately cubical chunks and blanched by heating the chunks to a temperature at or below the boiling point of water for a period of less than 10 minutes to inactivate the enzymes contained in the tomato. The blanched tomatoes are cooled to room temperature and then pulped. After removing skin and seeds to form a tomato juice from the pulp chunks, the juice is evaporated under vacuum to form a paste-like concentrate having a solid content from abot 20% to about 35%. Air trapped in the concentrate is removed. The concentrate is then formed into pieces and dried until the moisture content of the pieces is between about 3% and about 4%.

Abstract: Unnecessary loss of valuable fiber and unnecessary consumption of energy, as well as undue gelatinization of starch contained in the endosperm are avoided by subjecting the whole corn kernels to a selective nixtamalization process which comprises separating the hull from the kernels for forming a hull fraction and an endosperm-germ fraction, subjecting only the hull fraction to nixtamalization such as by heating in an alkaline solution and then mixing the nixtamalized hull fraction with the untreated endosperm-germ fraction.This mixture is suitable for producing a good quality corn flour suitable for producing tortillas having excellent rheological properties.