Fruit, ripeness and preservation

Fruit, ripeness and preservation
Fruit that goes past its optimum ripeness enter senescence, a stage of overripeness and breakdown. In this stage, the texture loses its firmness, succulence is diminished, and sugar, acid, and aroma elements generally all decline in concentration. Some fruits like the banana have an early senescence, and deterioration, once begun, is rapid. On the other hand, some fruit, like apples, resists the onset of senescence can be controlled by keeping the fruit at the lowest temperature that it can tolerate and by increasing the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide to a control level. Too much carbon dioxide can be harmful.

All fruit preserved by canning should be heat-processed to attain commercial sterility. Whereas vegetables and certain other foods require the application of high temperature (240F, 250F) or higher for significance lengths of time to attain commercial sterility, most fruits sufficiently acid (PH usually below 4.5) that commercial sterility can be attained by heating the containers in boiling water to the point where all parts of the product reach a temperature of 180F – 200F.

All fruit preserved by freezing should be brought to a temperature of 0F or below during freezing and thereafter held at 0F or below until sold to the consumer. Fruit may be packed in retail-sized container and frozen in one of three ways:

1. The containers are placed in trays; the trays are placed on the racks and frozen as the racks are moved through a tunnel in which blasts of cold air are circulated;

2. The carton are paced on chain mesh belts that move slowly through a tunnel in which blast of cold air are circulated

3. The cartons are placed on trays; the filled trays are placed between refrigerated metal plates. and the product is frozen with containers in contact with the cold plates.
Fruit, ripeness and preservation