All you need is a can opener to unlock the juicy flavor of the field tomato.
There are over 2,000 varieties.
For canning purposes, they grow a type with a thick skin and firm consistency,
so machinery can pick and sort them without damaging the flesh.
Rotating clippers cut the vines as the harvester drives over the crop.
Once cut, the plants ride an elevator belt up into the harvester.
Inside the harvester, metal prongs shake the tomatoes to free them from the vines.
An electronic color sorter rejects the green ones.
A conveyor transfers the red ripe tomatoes to a trailer traveling alongside the harvester.
Once they have a load of 22 tons, they deliver the tomatoes to the canning factory.
Here, they fill the trailer with water to float the tomatoes out through a door at the side,
the tomato's land on a slatted conveyor.
The water, dirty from residual soil, drains away through the slats.
The tomatoes land in a clean water-filled channel,
and here any rocks sink to the bottom and are removed.
The tomatoes float on into a big tank where jets churn up the water for more gentle cleansing action.
The tomatoes then head up to a sorting line.
They travel over metal bars and smaller tomatoes fall through the gaps.
They'll be used to make tomato juice.
The others fly forward past 60 tiny cameras that detect pale or yellowish tomatoes.
Pneumatic fingers knock those tomatoes out of the batch.
It all happens in less than a second.
Looking for damaged or broken fruit now, humans inspect the tomatoes.
They send any rejects to another part of the factory to be used to make juice.
The rest take the plunge into a very hot bath.
This scalds the tomatoes and loosens the skins.
The tomatoes then travel on a moving bed of rubber discs,
and this gently pulls the skins away from the tomatoes.
A spray of water washes away the skins, and they fall through the rubber discs,
so there's no mess to clean up after peeling.
The now peeled tomatoes wash up onto another conveyor where sprayers give them another rinse.
This conveyor controls the flow of peeled tomatoes into the processing room
by metering the produce as it moves forward.
Ahead, the dicer awaits.
It has three sets of cross-cutting blades for some serious slicing action.
The tomatoes tumble down a chute into the dicer and are quickly chopped into small cubes.
The diced tomatoes ride by workers who pick out pieces that aren't perfectly red.
They also remove any core pieces.
Exiting a cleaning station, the cans queue up for a fill-up.
Ahead, the diced tomatoes flow into metal pockets.
This portions them out for the cans.
The pockets rotate forward to meet the cans, now moving in sync below.
The bottoms of the pockets open to release the contents into the cans,
and it all happens with perfect timing.
They add hot tomato juice and flavorings.
Lids advance towards the open cans.
They land on top, and a machine crimps the lids to the cans, creating a double seam for a complete seal.
Now in airtight cans, the tomatoes head into a hot oven for a quick cook.
This sterilizes them, eliminating the need to use preservatives.
The cans are now ready for labeling.
They spin across wheels that apply glue to the sides.
They roll over paper labels, which adhere to the glue-covered cans.
Here's the labeling action slowed down for the camera.
The label contains brand and nutritional information, as well as the exact time of production.
This means it can be traced if there's ever a quality issue.
It has taken about one hour for these field tomatoes to be harvested, canned and labeled,
deserving a taste of summer to be enjoyed year-round.
