tinned manderins

[phl666]

how do they peel all the little pieces of tinned mandarin oranges?

[bobjim1705]

I believe they'd use an enzyme called pectinase. This breaks down the pectin between the cells that make up the peel.
If you soak a lemon/orange/grapefruit/etc. in pectinase for a few days, you can literally wash the skin off.
Too long though, and the whole thing turns to mush.

[Clanad]

The use of pectinase enzyme (Brand name Peelzym) was  developed in 1981 here in the U.S., for the processing of grapefruit and oranges. The process requires the use of a vacuum chamber to infuse the fruit with the enzyme.  When the vacuum is released, normal air pressure forces the enzyme into the fruit, which then, seperates the segments.  But, until recently, here in the U.S., fruit such as the mandarin oranges were grown, but not processed, while in Spain, a small company had developed an efficient mechanical device for peeling and segmenting grapefruit.  Ironically, Spain doesn't produce many grapefruit, but processes them for many other surrounding countries. The Spanish peeler worked primarily on steamed grapefruit, but is easily adapted to mandarin oranges.  So, the end result is that both technologies are being combined to efficiently produce mandarin oranges ... Prior to this process, mandarin oranges were prepared by hand, often with a high loss of fruit due to damage...