Removing astringency of ‘Rama Forte’ persimmon by using high CO2 levels within pallet covers

Abstract

deastringency process using high CO2 concentrations on ‘Rama Forte’ persimmon within pallet covers under ambient and refrigerated conditions. The CO2 treatment for orange persimmons in cardboard boxes is to completely enclose pallet loads of fruits in sealed LDPE bags (90 μm), pull a slight vacuum, then add CO2 to create a 70 – 90 kPa CO2 atmosphere within the bag and around the fruit. Two pallets were hold at 20oC for 5 days and two others were kept at 1oC for 21 days. After these periods of time, the LDPE films were removed and the fruits were left at 25oC. Periodically, boxes from the bottom, middle and top layers of each pallet were sorted for the following analysis: astringency index, firmness, soluble solids and peel color were evaluated. The experimental design was a factorial 2x3, with 10 replicates by plot. The results showed that high CO2 atmosphere (70 – 90 kPa) for 5 days at 20ºC promoted both the astringency removal and the maintenance of the fruit firmness. High CO2 concentrations at 1oC for 21 days were equally efficient in the astringency removal of the fruits but it caused uneven ripening and peel browning occasionally, impairing its use.FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, pelo auxílio financeiro (processo n.2003/06445-2). AIR LIQUIDE BRASIL LTDA