Cold storage of apples (cv. Granny Smith) and changes in phenolic compounds

The Granny Smith variety of apple behaves differently to other apple cultivars, in that it needs an abnormally long time to ripen at room temperature. Its maturation has been accelerated by low-temperature stress. Fruit collected at commercial maturity were chosen and submitted to storage at 4 °C for 10 days and rewarming at 22 °C, to assay the influence of cold storage on their content of phenolic compounds. The behaviour of phenolic compounds was different in peel and in pulp. In the pulp, apple phenolic compounds decreased during the development period and during the cold treatment. In the peel, the quantity of phenolic compounds increased with time after the cold treatment, reversing their normal behaviour during the development period.