A research on the freezing conservation of 'Sarılop' figs

This trial was initiated in the harvest season of 2016, to determine the effects of freezing and thawing temperatures on fruit quality properties of hard-ripe and ripe maturity stages of 'Sarılop' fig fruit during the postharvest period. For this purpose, after pre-cooling treatment, fresh fig samples, which were grown without any inputs, were frozen at -20°C for 24 h and -40°C for 8-10 h. Frozen figs were stored at -18°C and 70-80% relative humidity with doypack bags for 10 months. After 60 and 300 days at 
-18°C, fruit samples were thawed in plastic containers during 24 h, at 0 and 4°C, respectively. Specifically, the drip loss (%), firmness (N), total soluble solids (%) and skin color (L) values were determined. Under tested freezing and thawing conditions, there was no statistically significant differences in the drip loss values, even if the lowest drip loss was found for freezing at -2°C for 24 h. Besides, fruit firmness decreased during the storage period both in hard-ripe and ripe fruit, and maximum total soluble solids were measured in fruit that was frozen at -20°C and then stored at 
-18°C for 300 days.