DEVELOPMENT OF AROMA VOLATILES AND COLOR DURING POSTHARVEST RIPENING OF KENT STRAWBERRIES

'Kent' strawberries mere harvested at red, pink, and white stages of development, and stored at 15C in the light. Fruit were sampled over a 10-day period and evaluated for volatile production and surface color. Volatile production by red and pink fruit peaked after 4 days of storage. Maximum volatile production by red fruit was 8- and 25-fold greater than maximum production by pink and white fruit, respectively. Aroma volatiles were not detected in the headspace over white berries until 4 days following harvest after which volatile production increased through the tenth day of storage. Changes in the surface color of white berries during postharvest ripening coincided with the production of volatiles. In another experiment, red, pink, and white 'Kent' strawberries were stored for 3 days at 10 or 20C in the dark or light. Fruit were then evaluated for volatile production, weight loss, anthocyanin content, and surface color changes. White berries produced volatile esters after 3 days of storage at 20C in the light. Both light and temperature influenced the relative production of the volatiles produced by pink fruit. Fresh weight loss, color change, and anthocyanin content were temperature and light dependent.