Organoleptic characteristics of yellow pitahaya fruits (Cereus triangularis Haw.) under two storage conditions

Abstract

Studies on the behavior of yellow pitahaya during postharvest are scarce in Ecuador. Thus, an organoleptic study was carried out on pitahaya fruits subjected to two storage conditions in order to evaluate the color, firmness and appearance of the fruit based on a 10-taster panel. Fruits of three physiological stages of maturity (soft fruit with 15-25% maturity (B1), yellow fruit with 50% maturity (B2) and mature fruit with 75-90% maturity (B3) were submitted during 22 days to storage under two temperature conditions: room temperature at 16±4 ºC (A1) and cold at 6±2 ºC (A2). The color, flavor, aroma, texture and acceptability of the edible part (pulp) were determined using a hedonic scale. All variables were compared by a Tukey’s mean test (p˂0.05). The sensorial analysis determined that fruits from the control group was most accepted with an average of 4.7 in the hedonic scale followed by treatment A2B3 (cold storage with ripening of 75-90%), who’s average value was 4.3.

Keywords

• storage
• attribute
• scavengers
• hedonic scale
• maturity.