A hopper used in conjunction with a deep fryer basket to remove small pieces of the food item, breading or ice crystals from the basket before it is placed in a deep fryer for cooking. Removing the small particles of food prevents them from falling into the shortening and accumulating in the deep fryer. The shortening in the deep fryer will last longer and not discolor when the food items being cooked are totally removed from the shortening after cooking and do not leave behind small pieces of food, breading or water. The hopper when used over a bucket will collect all the small food items, which would otherwise fall into the shortening. The bucket when full can be emptied or replaces with another bucket. The hopper has a lid to engage the bucket and prevent spills or food escaping from the bucket.

Frozen food is thawed automatically by disposing the food within a container having a trough disposed adjacent to a top of the container, the trough being connected to a drain, filling the container with water to a predetermined level, providing a controlled metered secondary flow of fresh water into the container so as to cause the water level to rise and flow into the trough, forcibly recirculating, using a pump, water in the container so as to produce sufficient water circulation to maintain a substantially even water temperature distribution therein and so as to produce sufficient agitation of the water to break loose small food particles from the frozen food immersed in the water such that the food particles and food-related oils and debris float to the surface of the water and are carried into the trough.

A oscillating sorting conveyor is adapted for separating whole berries of wine grapes from undesirable components such as "shot berries" (immature grapes), stems, raisins, leaf material, bugs, pebbles and the like. The sorter deploys a downward tilting trough that is driven to oscillate. A screen is disposed at the bottom of the trough such that whole berries are conveyed over the screen while the undesirable components pass through the screen. The preferred embodiment of the screen has a non-uniform cross-section to improve the efficiency of removal the undesirable components without clogging or requiring constant maintenance. The preferred embodiment of the oscillating conveyor is driven by a cam and cam follower, in which the cam driving shaft is counterweighted to minimize vibration. The more preferred embodiments minimize damage to the grape berries while efficiently removing the undesirable components.