ARTIFICIAL RIPENING OF FRUIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 14, 17 January 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

ARTIFICIAL RIPENING OF FRUIT.

The Ethylene process finds one of its best applications in the ripening and colouring of tomatoes, green fruit becoming perfectly ripe and brilliantly coloured. Under the old sweating process tomatoes suffer through rot and fungus and the quality is often poor, due to incomplete respiration of acids. Tomatoes ripened after removal from the vine in winter are liable to be excessively acid, but if treated with Ethylene they have a fine flavour, .free from excess acidity. Very immature tomatoes down to one inch in diameter may be ripened in six to eight days. More mature fruit 3 require only, twenty-four to sixty hours depending upon the variety and degree of maturity. It is practicable to ripen two-third or three-quarter size tomatoes for market at times of high prices. Ethylene ripened fruit is much more nearly comparable to the vine ripened fruit than the fruit ripened in air. Vine ripened fruit is high in sugar and low in acid and air ripened fruit is very much lower in sugar, having no more sugar than green tomatoes and is high in acid. Ethylene ripened fmit is also rather low in sugar but the acid contents are about the same as in the vine ripened fruit. Futhermore it is found that Ethylene ripened fruit will stand up equally long as air ripened fruit and naturally longer than tree ripened fruit. Sixty-five decrees F- seems to be the best temperature. With melons the chief advantage which the Ethylene process offers is its positive assurance of producing luscious ripeness. The present process often fails to produce satisfactory results. Ethylene will positively ripen green melons uniformly and evenly and gives them a fine sweetness of flavour. Musk, Honeydew, and Casabo melons respond particularly well on the treatment.