Hot water calcium dips improve quality of fresh-cut watermelon
E. Aguayo, E. Gómez and F. Artés, V.H. Escalona
Abstracts of 7th International Postharvest Symposium 2012 (IPS2012). 25-29 June, 2012. Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 238 pages.
2012
บทคัดย่อ
Fresh-cut watermelon is a relatively new product in Spain, with great consumer appeal. However, even under cold storage, deterioration occurs as juice leakage, and loss of texture, colour, and sweetness, reducing the shelf-life of this commodity. However, the use of calcium chloride (CaCl2) dips using hot water helped to keep the quality of fresh-cut fruits. Cubes of watermelon were dipped into 1 % or 0.5% CaCl2 for 2 min at 5° or 45°C. As control, non -dipped watermelon cubes were used. After treatment, fresh-cut watermelon was packaged under modified packaging up to 8 days at 5°C. The use of CaCl2, at 0.5% and particularly at 1% CaCl2, reduced the respiration rate, softness, and microbial counts whilst providing good appearance and texture. All these parameters were improved when the calcium dips were at 45°C versus 5°C, in particular, the good sensorial scores and the reduction on psychrotrophic and yeast growth. Dipping of CaCl2 at 45°C was a very effective treatment to maintain quality during 8 days storage at 5°C.