Pepper de-stemming methods and apparatus

A whole pepper de-stemmer comprising:

• a sensing means for detecting with machine vision only reflected visible light a shoulder of a whole pepper triggered by a photocell, such that cutting the stem from the pepper at the shoulder leaves sufficient placental material in a separated pepper pod to seal the separated pepper pod after de-stemming;
• a timing means for generating a cut signal based upon detection of the whole pepper shoulder;
• and
• a cutting means coupled to the timing means for de-stemming the whole pepper at the shoulder, as the shoulder's location has been determined by the sensing means.

A whole pepper de-stemmer system comprising:

• a vibration hopper;
• a channeled vibrator for distributing a plurality of peppers received from the vibration hopper onto the channeled vibrator aligning at least one pepper of the plurality of peppers lengthwise;
• a generally “V” shaped lane receiving the at least one pepper, the generally “V” shaped lane including a first sensor and a second sensor disposed beneath the first sensor, the first and second sensors disposed in the wall of a generally “V” shaped lane;
• and
• a double bladed knife coupled and responsive to the first sensor and the second sensor whereby a stem of the at least one pepper is removed by sensing a location of a pepper shoulder of the at least one pepper to be cut, and the double bladed knife, removing the stem and calyx at the shoulder of the at least one pepper regardless of the at least one pepper length based, and based upon the location of the at least one pepper shoulder as determined by the first sensor and the second sensor disposed beneath the first sensor.