Heat treatment prevents postharvest geotropic curvature of asparagus spears (Asparagus officinalis L.)

Negative geotropic curvature of fresh asparagus spears after harvest was pr evented by a brief heat treatment. The heat treatment was immersion in heat ed water at 47.5 degrees C for 2-5 min and cooling to storage temperature a s soon as possible after heat treatment. The heat treatment can be varied f rom 45 degrees C for longer than 5 min to 50 degrees C for 2.5 min or less to avoid significant loss of spear appearance. The treatment temperature an d time needed to be adjusted for spear diameter, small diameter spears requ ired a shorter exposure time or lower temperature. (C) 1999 Elsevier Scienc e B.V. All rights reserved.