FREEZING INJURY OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES ]j 



rounding a brown zone which extends inward in roughly triangu- 

 lar patches as far as the bundles of conducting vessels or a little 

 beyond ; next to this another zone of healthy flesh ; and in the flesh 

 at the core a second area of brown. 



Internal break-down is usually worse in large apples and more 

 marked at the blossom ends than at the stem ends. Freezing in- 

 jury may affect apples of any size and is not necessarily or uni- 

 formly worse at one end than at the other. Yet when one side of 

 an apple or even the whole apple shows a uniform brown color in 

 cross section, it will be hard to determine whether the color is due 

 to freezing injury or internal break-down. Reliance should then 

 be placed on all the symptoms that can be found in as many apples 

 as can be examined conveniently rather than on any one symptom 

 or the examination of one apple. 



Asparagus 



Asparagus was held in a standard asparagus crate in a 20° F. 

 room for 24 hours. The crate was papered over the sides and 

 bottom. 2 After 48 hours* thawing at 60° many stalks were limp 

 and water-soaked. Counts made on 2 bunches showed that 64 

 stalks, or 55 percent, had been injured by freezing. The other 

 stalks showed no signs of freezing injury. When only part of the 

 stalk had been injured, the affected region — the upper, tender end 

 of the stalk — was easily detected by the limp, water-soaked, 

 slightly shriveled condition. 



Lima Beans 



Lima beans in a bushel hamper, papered around the sides and 

 covered with a regular hamper lid, were held in an 18° F. room for 

 48 hours. Freezing, recognizable by a water-soaked appearance of 

 part or all of the pod, began in 1 hour at the top of the hamper. At 

 the end of 6 hours pods around the sides and about 3 inches down 

 from the top had frozen, but those in the center of the mass were 

 not frozen. On removal from the freezing room, all pods were 

 found frozen except those in a roughly cylindrical region about 3 

 inches in diameter, extending from about 4 inches below the top of 

 the mass of beans to within about 3 inches of the bottom. After 48 

 hours at 45° the pods and seeds that had been frozen were limp and 

 water-soaked. 



Lima beans in a %-bushel, papered hamper were held in a 24° F. 

 room for 7 hours. At the end of that time pods at the top and next 

 to the sides of the hamper were found slightly frozen and showed a 

 few water-soaked spots. After 24 hours at 45° the only symptom 

 of injury that could be detected was a slight limpness of the pods 

 that had frozen. The seeds showed no signs of injury. 



Snap Beans 



Snap beans in a %-bushel hamper, papered over the sides and 

 bottom, were in a 24° F. room for 7 hours. After thawing for 24 



2 Paper was used on this crate and on packages of certain other commodities in 

 other tests, in order to restrict air circulation and so simulate to some extent the 

 conditions to which packages in a refrigerator car or in a stack on a pier might be 

 subjected. 



