Some freeze damage is visible, but chemical testing may be a tool for revealing hidden damage.

Ah, the smell of fresh oranges!  Scrape the skin of that orange a little bit and you’ll release even more of the volatiles, giving you a blast of citrus vibrancy.  But perhaps those volatile compounds can be used for more than a brief burst of sensory pleasure.  Maybe they can be used to indicate the health of the fruit.  Specifically, researchers at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service wondered if freeze damage would modify the composition of the volatiles released from oranges.  They harvested fruit, exposed it to cold temperatures in a laboratory freezer, then measured the changes in volatile composition. Their conclusion: it’s worth looking into.

For further information visit www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

• 

•