FRUITS: Consumer Quality Characteristics, Yield, and Preparation Time of 



Various Market Forms 



By Velma J. Chapman, James P. Sweeney, Margaret E. Martin,' and Elsie H. Dawson 

 Human Nutrition Research Division, Agricultural Research Service 



SUMMARY 



Preparation time requirements, yield, and 

 quality were determined on fresh, canned, and 

 frozen fruits — grapefruit, orange juice concen- 

 trate, peaches, pineapple, raspberries, and straw- 

 berries. Also, preparation time and yield were 

 determined on six additional fruits in various 

 market forms: Apples, cherries, cranberries, lem- 

 ons, plums, and rhubarb. 



Steps in the preparation of the fruits were 

 recorded in two categories: (1) Active prepa- 

 ration time, which includes activities requiring 

 the full attention of the homemaker, and (2) 

 total preparation time, which includes time for 

 active preparation and other time — as for thawing 

 or baking — that does not require the full attention 

 of the homemaker. 



Fresh fruits required the most time for active 

 preparation. However, total preparation time 

 was longest for frozen fruits. Canned fruits 

 required very little time for preparation. Active 

 preparation time for fresh fruits ranged from 1 

 minute for Bing cherries served unpitted, to 

 more than 38 minutes for red sour cherries 

 served pitted. Total preparation time for canned 

 fruits was from one-quarter minute, the time 

 required for opening the can, to more than 10 

 minutes for fruits requiring heating. For frozen 

 fruits, total time ranged from 2V2 minutes for 

 lemonade and orange juice concentrates to 180 

 minutes for baked apples. 



In most cases, fresh fruits as purchased yielded 

 higher percentages of drained solids than did the 

 frozen or canned fruits. Yield of drained prepared 

 fruit ranged from about 40 to 95 percent for the 

 fresh fruits, 44 to 100 percent for frozen fruits, 

 and 35 to 81 percent for canned fruits. The 

 yield of drained solids for the majority of fresh 

 fruits was above 80 percent. 



Most of the fruits were near optimum in color, 

 as shown by panel color scores and color-difference 

 meter values. However, color scores for the 

 fresh fruits were higher than for the canned or 

 frozen fruits. Of the frozen fruits investigated 

 grapefruit appeared to be most uniform in color' 



» Now on staff' of Department of Health, Education, and 

 Welfare, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D.C. 



as indicated by color-difference meter and panel 

 color scores. The color of the frozen pineapple 

 and orange juice was also generally good. Frozen 

 peaches were variable in color because of brown 

 spots on some samples. Frozen raspberries and 

 strawberries had the greatest color variation 

 because of their tendency to darken. 



Highest flavor scores were usually given to the 

 fresh fruits. Texture of most of the fresh fruits 

 was near optimum. Texture of the frozen and 

 canned fruits was good, in most cases, but these 

 products were slightly softer than the fresh fruits. 



For all frozen fruits, ascorbic acid content of 

 both solids and liquids varied considerably. 

 Raspberries, with a range in ascorbic acid content 

 of 0.8 to 23 milligrams per 100 grams of solids and 

 a coefficient of variation of 38, were most variable. 

 In grapefruit, most of the ascorbic acid was. in 

 the reduced form ; the ratio of oxidized to reduced 

 ascorbic acid was only 0.11, indicating stability 

 of ascorbic acid in this fruit. For the other 

 fruits, the ratios ranged from 0.51 in pineapple 

 to 0.71 for raspberries. 



Wide variations were found in ratios of ascorbic 

 acid in solids to ascorbic acid in liquids of frozen 

 fruits. Except for raspberries, the majority of 

 the ratios were in the range 0.50 to 1.25. Ratios 

 appeared to be characteristically higher for 

 raspberries than for the other fruits investigated. 



Ratios of titratable acidity in solids to titratable 

 acidity in liquids of frozen fruits were, except for 

 grapefruit, similar to ascorbic acid ratios. The 

 titratable acid ratio for grapefruit was considerably 

 higher than its ascorbic acid ratio. In general, 

 diffusion of acid from solids to liquids would be 

 associated with storage at temperatures above 

 0° F. The amount of diffusion, however, would 

 be characteristic of the fruit investigated. 



Ratios of soluble solids in solids to soluble solids 

 in liquids of frozen fruit were quite variable. A 

 low ratio would indicate good storage conditions 

 before purchase. Lowest ratios were found for 

 raspberries and peaches. The highest ratio, 0.78, 

 was for pineapple. 



The cloud determinations carried out on orange 

 juice concentrate indicated that none of the 

 samples had been previously thawed and refrozen. 



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