Effect of pectin-wax coating on the quality of fresh-cut apples

Abstract

Efficacy of different coating materials including citric acid (CA) as a control, pectin-wax (PW) mixture and pectin-wax mixture containing pistachio hull extract (PWE) were investigated on the quality characteristics of fresh-cut apples during the storage period. The samples were kept under two separate temperatures at 5 °C for 8 days and at 20 °C for 32h. Changes in weight, color, total phenolic content, were examined at different time points along storage time. Results indicated that the apple pieces coated with PWE showed the lowest increase in browning index followed by samples coated with PW. The applications of coatings were effective on delaying the degradation of samples’ colors. The effect of coating fresh-cut apples with PWE was less pronounced on a* values than on L* and b* values.  Furthermore coating with PW was affected L* values significantly. The temperature was also a factor affecting the samples color. It was observed that samples kept at lower temperature have maintained the color coordinates. Weight loss was observed significantly in uncoated samples comparing to those prepared with coating, over time of storage at both temperatures. The coatings were effective in maintaining phenolic components where losing in phenolics was higher in non-coated samples.