Tomatoes and carrots need quite a bit of preparation before they can be turned into a smooth juice, purée, or concentrate. In tomatoes, for example, the skin and seeds need to be removed properly so the final juice, purée, or concentrate has a smoother texture. Carrots have a firmer texture, so the pulp needs to be broken down well to release more of the beta-carotene naturally present in the cells.

During concentration, the tomato or carrot pulp becomes thicker as water is removed, so the processing line needs to keep it moving evenly while it is heated. Forced-circulation evaporation is used for this stage to reduce build-up on the heated surfaces. For carrot juice or purée, high-pressure homogenization breaks the pulp into finer particles, so more beta-carotene can be released from the carrot cells.