03 Oct Maturity and quality aspects of fresh fruits and vegetables
ताजे फल और सब्जियों की परिपक्वता और गुणवत्ता पहलुओं की विवेचना Fruits and vegetables, being a rich source of essential nutrients, are generally important in our diet for their high content of fibers, vitamins and minerals. However, they contain a very high percentage of their fresh weight as water and consequently exhibit relatively high metabolic activity which continues post harvest and makes most fruits highly perishable commodities. It is this perishability and inherent short shelf life that presents greatest problem for the successful transportation and marketing of fresh fruits. The principles dictating at which stage of maturity a fruit or vegetable should be harvested are crucial to its subsequent storage and marketable life and quality. It is that stage of development, which ensures proper ripening. Maturity of fruit and vegetable can be defined as two type namely physiological maturity (The stage of development when a plant part will continue development even if detached; mature fruits) and horticultural maturity (The stage of development when a plant part possesses the necessary characteristics for use by consumers). The stages of maturity for a fruit consists of immature, color turn, ripe, overripe and senescence and for vegetables are immature, mature and over-mature. Maturation is indicative of the fruit being ready for harvest. At this point, the edible...