Dec. i, 1920 Some Changes in Florida Grapefruit in Storage 371 



The fruit will apparently keep for a longer period in cold storage than 

 in either common or warm storage. In the first place, the losses from 

 decay caused by microorganisms are much less in the cold-storage 

 temperatures. In the second place, the shrinkage in cold storage is 

 much less than in warm, ventilated storage or in common storage. 

 A high percentage of the fruit rotted in warm, unventilated packages. 

 A high degree of humidity is necessarily maintained in this storage, 

 which is very favorable to the growth of various fungi which break down 

 the fruit. There is, therefore, much loss. The fruit which does survive 

 this treatment is, however, very attractive in appearance and has an 

 excellent flavor. In the third place, the life of the fruit is apparently 

 lengthened in cold storage — that is, the average fruit apparently tends 

 to break down more quickly when maintained at temperatures above 

 40 F. than when stored at lower temperatures. 



An undesirable feature of cold storage is the breaking down or pitting 

 of the peel at the temperature of 40 F. or lower. This breaking down of 

 the peel begins as a slightly sunken spot, which increases in size and 

 becomes brown in color. The sunken portions are usually not more than 

 % inch in diameter, but several may coalesce, making a large sunken area 

 of dark-brown tissue. This does not extend into the pulp, and the flavor 

 is apparently unaffected, but the fruits are rendered unsightly. In these 

 experiments no pitting was noticeable on the fruit stored at the two 

 warm-storage temperatures or in common storage. It occurred only 

 on the fruit stored in the three cold storages. In these* temperatures 

 the fruit at 40 was most seriously affected. There was somewhat less 

 pitting on the fruit in the 36 storage and only a little on fruit at 32 °. 



The flavor of the fruit improves in cold storage. The fruit is sweeter, 

 as is obvious from the fact that the sugar content of the pulp is higher 

 and the acid content lower. The fruit is apparently not so bitter after 

 storage, which may be due to the breaking down of the naringin in the 

 pulp. Zoller (11) has shown that this glucoside breaks down in the peel 

 during storage. The fruit improves in taste more rapidly at high storage 

 temperature than in cold storage, which is to be expected, inasmuch as 

 the changes are more rapid in warm storage. After longer storage, 

 however, the fruit in cold storage attains the excellence brought about 

 more quickly at a higher temperature. 



The experiments in which the fruit was removed from storage at 32 F. 

 after 60 days and stored at 70 for 46 days (Table VIII) indicate that 

 the grapefruit does not deteriorate rapidly after removal from cold 

 storage. The fruit compared very favorably with fruit that had been 

 stored at 70 from the beginning of the storage period. 



From the data shown in Tables I to IX, there is no question but that 

 the titratable acids in the fruit decrease after the fruit is removed from 

 the tree and placed in cold storage, which is in accord with the behavior 



