Effect of harvest maturity and cold storage on correlations between fruit properties during ripening of apricot (Prunus armeniaca)

Crop load and harvest maturity effects on consumer preferences for apricots

“…Consumer panels have shown correlations between fruit acceptability and fruit quality traits, particularly sugar content and firmness …”

“…However, cold storage of 4 weeks or more affected consumer preferences in relation to sugar content. Chilling disorders such as mealiness and gel formation appeared to override the liking for sweet taste, as there was no correlation between soluble solids content (SSC) and liking by a semi‐trained panel for apricots stored for between 2 and 6 weeks . In this case, there was a maximum of only three assessors, and individual preferences would have reduced the likelihood of a significant result.…”

Use of Sensory Analysis Methods to Evaluate the Odor of Food and Outside Air

“…Sensory analysis ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 21 methods are used to test the quality of food products (Anyango, de Kock, & Taylor, 2011;Fiore, et al, 2013) and check their freshness (Bouteille, et al, 2013) and ripeness (Stanley, Prakash, Marshall, & Schröder, 2013). These methods are also used to classify and verify the authenticity of food products (Sipos, et al, 2012), as well as to differentiate profiles fragrance products tested (González-Álvarez, Noguerol-Pato, González-Barreiro, CanchoGrande, & Simal- Gándara, 2014;Jaeger, et al, 2014).…”

Near freezing point temperature storage inhibits chilling injury and enhances the shelf life quality of apricots following long‐time cold storage

“…Thus, apricots are usually harvested at low maturity and held in cold storage for better shelf life performance (i.e., a longer shelf life) (Fan, Shu, et al, ). A number of studies have reported that apricots can be stored at 0°C for more than one month and still maintain acceptable firmness (Stanley, Prakash, Marshall, & Schröder, ) and antioxidant activity (Fan, Xi, et al, ). However, when apricots are moved from long‐term cold storage to a room temperature market, the fruit softens and rapidly becomes inedible (Infante, Meneses, & Defilippi, ).…”

“…Climacteric fruit usually exhibit a rapid increase in ethylene production rate when moved from cold storage to room temperature, which may accelerate the ripening process and lead to subsequent fruit physiological disorders during shelf life (Kan, Che, Xie, & Jin, ). Physiological disorders, such as loss of juiciness and development of mealiness, occur during apricot shelf life storage, following 6‐week 0°C storage (Stanley et al, ). A number of studies have reported that following cold storage, low‐maturity fruits usually exhibit poor sensory quality and negative consumer acceptability during marketing because of the slow and delayed ripening process under low temperatures (Fan, Shu, et al, ).…”