The effects of ethanol treatment on the metabolism, shelf life and quality of stored tomatoes at different maturities and temperatures.
Anny Yanuriati, Geoffrey P Savage and Richard N Rowe
Journal of the science of food and agriculture, Vol. 79, Issue 7. May 1999. Pages 995 - 1002
1999
บทคัดย่อ
Two maturity stages of commercially grown tomatoes (breaker and mature green) were exposed to ethanol vapour (2 ml ethanol kg-1 fruit) for 6 h at 20 degrees C prior to storage at 5 degrees C and 20 degrees C. During storage the colour, firmness and composition changes were examined every 3 and 7 days. The results showed that ethanol vapour treatment could significantly slow down the colour changes and softening of both mature green and breaker tomatoes with greater effects when stored at 5 degrees C. There was no difference between the two maturity stages in retardation of softening during storage; in contrast the maturity stage had a highly significant effect in the colour development of stored tomatoes. When the fruit stored at 5 degrees C was then held at 20 degrees C for 7 days the ripening process was accelerated but the fruit did not reach the same level of colour development as the fruit stored at 20 degrees C continuously. The results suggest that ethanol vapour pretreatment could be used as a cheap and easy method to extend the storage life of tomatoes.