Physical and physical-chemical evaluations of fruits of west indian cherry (Malpighia emarginata D.C.) clones.

Abstract

Fresh ripen fruit of 45 different clones of West Indian Cherry were cropped from a commercial orchard located at Limoeiro do Norte Country, Ceara State. They were analyzed for weight and firmness at the Laboratory of Physiology and Post Harvest Technology of Embrapa, in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. After frozen, they were processed and analyzed for total soluble solids (TS), pH, total titrable acidity (TA), TS/TA ratio, vitamin C, anthocyanin and â-carotene. The results showed that some clones have potential to be used in the industry of vitamin C once its high content in ripen fruits suggests that this vitamin content is still higher in green fruits. The Monami clone, for instance, presented the lowest TS, pH and TS/TA ratio, although its vitamin C content was above the general average of the clones.