Influence of cultivar and dipping pre-treatment on quality of minimally processed organically grown apples

Nowadays the demand for fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables is increasing but few have organic origin; among all fruits, fresh-cut apples are very much appreciated from the consumers. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of an anti-oxidant treatment and the influence of cultivar on the quality of minimally processed organically grown apples during shelf-life. Cv Golden Delicious and cv Pink Lady were used, and the anti-oxidant treatment was carried out by dipping the apples in a solution of citric acid 1% and ascorbic acid 0.5%. After washing and core removing, apples were mechanically cut into 8 slices and dipped for 15 min-utes in the anti-oxidant solution. After draining, the excess water was dried with absorbing paper; then the apple slices were packaged in polythene boxes and stored at 3±1°C. Some slices were packaged without previous treatment as a control sample. Chemical and physical parameters were studied after 0, 2, 5 and 7 days of storage. Results showed that both cultivar could be used to obtain high quality fresh-cut products which can be stored at least for 7 days, and the antioxidant treatment had a positive effect in preserving apple characteristics.