As a comparison, tomatoes of the cv. Halley 3155 grown in only one
location were submitted to lye peeling followed by vacuum. For this experiment,
the tomatoes were treated with a hot lye solution (18% NaOH w/v) at
approximately 95C in steam-jacketed kettles for periods ranging from 30 to
75 s. Vacuums of 20, 22 and 24 in. were tested. A total of 12 lye peeling
treatments were performed. After immersion in the lye solution and vacuum
treatment, tomatoes were run over mechanical peel eliminators as described
for the steam peeled tomatoes. Results are the means of three peeling
replicates.