Tomatoes and other fruit may be processed so as to avoid destroying viscosity inducing components by passing the sliced fruit through a counter current extractor in counter current with an aqueous liquid, the liquid being at a temperature of at least 65 DEG C.; recovering a liquid phase from the lower end of the counter current extractor and a solid phase from the upper end of the extractor; recovering flavour and/or aroma components from the liquid phase; subjecting the solid phase to a finishing process to remove skins and/or seeds therefrom; and dewatering the finished solid phase to increase the viscosity thereof.
