How to Delay the Ripening of Fruits
According to researchers at the UP Los Baños, the ripening of fruits can be delayed from one to two weeks under the following conditions.
1. Don’t pick the fruits very soon. Trees have a natural way of retarding the ripening of fruits.
2. Take care not to bruise the fruits in picking, transporting or changing containers. It is in these ways that microorganisms enter the fruits and causes rotting to start and lose weight.
3. Ripe fruits give off ethylene, a kind of gas that hastens ripening. Don’t put together ripe and raw fruits.
4. Don’t put together healthy and non-healthy fruits. Non-healthy fruits give off much ethylene.
5. Don’t expose the fruits in the sun. This hastens ripening.
6. Keep the fruits away from heat given off by motor or machine. They also give off ethylene gas.
7. Ripening is slow in low temperatures. If no refrigerator is available, put the fruits in the coolest possible place.
8. If a refrigerator is available, put the fruits in a plastic bag with small holes.
9. Put charcoal soaked in potassium permanganate or small pieces of cement or perlite in containers with fruits.
Source: Farming Today April 1982
