The aim of this work was to determine storage capacity and changes in quality and consumer acceptance in plum harvested at different dates as well as to determine which instrumental parameters show good correlation with consumer acceptance and sensory properties. Both harvest date and storage time played a significant role in quality and sensory characteristics. Incidence of internal breakdown (IB) was significantly higher in fruit harvested last and increased significantly until the end of storage. Market life of ‘Green Gage’ plum varies from 20 days in fruit harvested on the last harvest date to 40 days in fruit harvested on earlier dates. When storage is needed, firmness, the best harvest index, should be higher than 42 N in order to extend market life and prevent IB damages in ‘Green Gage’ plums. However, fruit from early harvest dates has a lower consumer acceptance than fruit from late harvest dates (low TSS:TA). Thus, a minimum quality threshold based on TSS:TA (18.9) has been established over which consumer liking for European plums cv. Green Gage improves significantly. High linear regression between a* and TSS:TA would allow to use the a* color parameter as a nondestructive measurement to estimate consumer acceptance.
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