Quality Changes of Purple Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) during Storage

Purple passion fruit (Passifora edulis) has been grown in New Zealand for many years and is currently exported to several markets. This study was designed to provide some baseline quality information on the post harvest behaviour of New Zealand passion fruit. Fruits were obtained from a commercial export orchard and stored at 10 and 20 degrees C in perforated plastic bags or unlined fibreboard boxes for up to 34 days. Weight loss, mainly from the peel of the fruit with little effect on the pulp yield resulted in sever shrivelling. Neither weight loss nor shrivelling was influenced by packaging, but softening was less in fruit packed in perforated plastic bags. The soluble solids content increased and titratable acidity decreased resulting in a higher subjective sensory assessment of taste represented by the balance between sweet and sour with increasing time.