QUALITY CHANGES OF MINIMALLY PROCESSED HONEYDEW MELONS STORED IN AIR OR CONTROLLED-ATMOSPHERE

Pieces (18 x 35 mm cylinders) were prepared from sanitized fruits of f our honeydew melon varieties (Green Flesh, Morning Ice, Rico, RML 2704 ) harvested at typical commercial maturity. Pieces were stored in air or controlled atmosphere (CA = air + 15% CO2) at 5 degrees C and evalu ated for sensory quality, firmness, color and soluble solids concentra tion (SSC) after 0, 6 and 12 days. Significant variation was found amo ng varieties in SSC (9.9-12.2%), firmness (14.0-19.9 N), and chroma (1 0.4-19.0), hue angle (115-113) and L (63.7-66.8) color values of piec es on day 0. Pieces from the four varieties averaged 10 N firmness los s from day 0 to 12 and CA reduced loss significantly in only one varie ty. During air storage color saturation decreased only in pieces from varieties with high initial chroma (C) values. Average Delta C between days 0 and 12 was - 3.7 for air-stored vs - 1.0 for CA-stored pieces. Average Delta L was - 5.8 and - 1.4 for the same conditions, respect ively. SSC were maintained during storage in air or CA. Pieces stored in 15% CO2 had higher visual quality scores than those stored in air. In addition, CA storage greatly reduced development of macroscopic dec ay, translucency and off-odors. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.