Cherry-Meter: an innovative non-destructive (vis/NIR) device for cherry fruit ripening and quality assessment

The color of sweet cherry fruit is an important indicator of ripeness and quality. However, the tools that can be used to determine the ripeness of cherry fruits on trees or at storage are mostly subjective in practice. A new portable device based on visible and near infrared (vis/NIR) spectroscopy developed by Bologna University was used to follow the ripening evolution of cherry fruits. The Cherry-Meter measures the I_AD, an index that is able to follow the ripening evolution of cherry fruit. The reliability of the I_AD as a ripening index is confirmed by the fact that it does correlate with some quality traits such as chroma (skin color intensity), fruit anthocyanin content and soluble solids content (SSC). The strict correlation of I_AD with the common quality parameters of cherry fruit also indicates the possibility to achieve fruit homogeneity by sorting the fruits with similar characteristics based on their color and sugar content. The robustness of the I_AD as a ripening index, including the portability and non-destructive nature of the device makes the Cherry-Meter an innovative instrument to properly assess ripening of cherry fruits.