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Individual strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) fruits at cooled or ambient pulp temperatures were subjected to compression or impact forces to determine sensitivity to bruising. Fruits were more resistant to compression bruising at lower temperatures, but were more resistant to impact bruising at ambient temperatures. `Chandler' fruits at 1C or 30C were compressed (9.8 N for 2 s); after 24 h @ 24C, bruise volumes were 0.27 cm3 and 0.65 cm3, respectively. Following a single impact from 13 cm, fruits at 1C or 24C had bruise volumes of 0.21 cm3, and 0.10 cm3, respectively. Increasing impact height to 38 cm caused bruise volumes of 0.31 cm3 and 0.16 cm3 for fruits at 1C and 24C, respectively. The potential exists to improve packout quality and efficiency for value-added strawberry packs. Due to greater resistance to impacts at ambient temperatures, strawberries could be bulk-transported to a central facility, and graded and packed on an appropriately designed packing line. Care must be taken to avoid compression bruising at harvest.
`Sweet Charlie' strawberries (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) harvested at full ripe stage were 7/8-cooled by forced-air or hydrocooling to 4C, then held with or without a PVC film wrap in one of three storage regimes: 1) 7 days at 1C plus 1 day at 20C; 2) 7 days at 1C plus 7 days at 7C plus 1 day at 20C, or; 3) 7 days at 1C plus 5 days at 15C plus 2 days at 7C plus 1 day at 20C. Quality attributes, including surface color, firmness, weight loss, soluble solids and ascorbic acid content, pH, and titratable acidity, were evaluated after storage. Hydrocooled berries were better in overall quality, with better color retention, less weight loss, and lower incidence and severity of decay compared to forced-air-cooled berries. Strawberries wrapped in PVC film retained better color and had less weight loss and greater firmness, but greater incidence and severity of decay than berries stored uncovered. These results indicate good potential for using hydrocooling as a cooling method for strawberries.