Factors affecting the quality of fresh-cut sweet cherry

Sweet cherries are a very perishable commodity with a short shelf life in conventional cold storage. Sweet cherries are an important fruit in terms of production volumes for Italy. Their shelf life is shortened by loss of firmness, rot susceptibility, discoloration and desiccation of the stem. Postharvest treatments providing even a short extension of shelf-life would benefit the marketing of fresh cherries. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has been successfully applied in order to prolong the shelf-life of sweet cherries. High CO₂ concentrations maintain fruit brightness, preserve acidity and firmness and extend storage life. For these reasons, the aim of this work was to determine the potential of packaging as a practical technique for ready to eat sweet cherry. Hand harvested 'Giulietta' was used to verify the possibility to employ cherries as a ready to eat product. Samples were stored for a short period (10 days), to simulate the shelf-life of ready to eat products. The followed parameters were evaluated: soluble solids content (°Brix), titratable acidity (meq L^-1), colour (CIELAB), texture (Durofel Index), total anthocyanin content (mg of cyanidin-3-glucoside 100 g^-1 product) and antioxidant capacity (mmol Fe 2 kg^-1 product). The results show that 'Giulietta' can be suitable for use as a ready to eat product because good firmness and titratable acidity was retained after 10 days of storage.