Local Industries.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3535, 24 April 1880, Page 2

Local Industries.

KOEFOED'S TOMATO SAUCE.

One of the most important and flourishing of our local industries is the tomato sauce manufacture, carried out by Mr H. L. Koefoed of Mackay street, Shortland. The factory'was visited by our representative this morning, and he was shown the apparatus and the details of the manufacture explained by the courteous proprietor. Mr Koefoed derives a quantity of the fruit from his own garden on Block 27, but the bulk of the supply is bought in quantities varying from-a few pounds to several cwt. from miscel- , laneous sellers. The price paid for the tomatoes is Id per pound, and the profits derived from the successful cultivation | of the plant may be gleaned from the fact that this season already Mr Koefoed has purchased three tons weight from a Chinaman at Parawai, whose tomato patch does not cover more than the eighth of an acre. Out of this small piece of ground he has derived a weekly revenue of £1. As the demand for tomatoes will increase with the spreading of the demand for the sauce, we can heartily recommend gardeners to turn their attention to the cultivation of this plant next season. The tomatoes are generally purchased in a semi-ripe state, and exposed to the sun in open trays in a shed. As they ripen they are removed from the trays, wiped carefully, divided, anddeposited in a pickling trough for about 24 hours. The boiling is the next process. The enterprising proprietor has had erected at an expense of £30 or £40 a large copper cauldron, oapable of holding scwt of tomatoes. In this the fruit from the pickling trough is deposited, with two large bags containing spice, etc., and the whole mass allowed to simmer slowly for about 5 hours, the heat being increased towards the end. During the process of boiling the ingredients are thoroughly mixed by frequent stirring.. The sauce is then strained through a large copper colander into a vat, and from thence deposited in two large troughs called coolers. The compound when quite cold is then ready for bottling. ■ At the end of last year Mr Koeford imported 200 gross of pint bottles from London for this season's bottling, at a cost of £300. The bottles somewhat resemble those used by Lea and Perrin, and are neatly stamped with the manufacturer's name . and > address. Already 1000 dozen for this season's manufacture have been disposed of, 100 dozen a week being sent to the Auckland agent alone. During the whole .of last season the total quantity sold on the Thames was two hundred dozen bottles, and as a sign of the advancing favor of the sauce this season already 70 dozen have been disposed of, so that probably local consumers will require 400 dozen this year. Indeed it may be men.

tioned as a fact that Koefoed's sauce is completely running similar articles oat of the local market, partly from its superiority, and partly, no doubt, from the general desire to support a local industry. In the labelling and packing rooms the bottles are neatly covered with paper, labelled and packed in cases of 4 dozen each. There are 600 dozen now in stock. The labels are Very tasteful, baring been lithographed at the Herald office, Auckland, and the sauce, ready for export, is certainly very creditable to the manu> facturer and to the district. Mr Koefoed sent samples of Ins manufacture to the Sydney Exhibiton, but being bottled and labelled in a somewhat crude manner, and from the fact that the Exhibition Judges are probably more guided by the appearance of externals than the quality of the article itself, the exhibit did not obtain a

prize. The mauufacturer, however, intends to send a parcel of this year's bottling to the Melbourne Exhibition, and hopes at least to obtain honorable mention. Mr Koefoed expects to use 12 or 14 tons | of tomatoes this season in his manufacture, and next year probably double the quantity. From the large expencea that hare been entailed for plant 'etc., the profits have not been large so far, but everything promises that in a year or two a good paying industry will be established. Mr Koefoed first obtained his receipt for the manufacture of sauce from a friend in Auckland, the receipt it is believed having originally come from India. For several years he made small quantities for his own use, and eventually becoming convinced that its manufacture on a largo scale would be a remunerative undertaking, he commenced the preseut business. He has shown great perseverance and faith in nursing the infant industry, and certainly merits all the reward that fortune seems to promise him.