What is ripened fruit

Eat that same fruit a week before it is ripe, and you will get a completely different experience. The ripeness of fruit influences the choice of which fruit we pick at supermarkets. However, once fruits are ripe, they tend to spoil quickly, as you might have noticed in your own experience. This article provides an insight into two of the changes that are associated with fruit ripening: 1 softness; and 2 flavor, in particular, sweetness, and the role of ethylene gas in controlling fruit ripening.

As fruit-bearing plants grow, the fruits accumulate water and nutrients from the plant and they use these nutrients to create their flesh and seeds. Most growing fruits initially provide protection to the developing seeds. At this stage, fruits are generally hard and unattractive to predators—including us! After seed development and fruit growth, the properties of the fruit change to make the fruit more attractive to potential consumers, such as animals, birds, and humans [ 1 ].

These changes include the most common ways by which we judge whether a fruit is ripe or not, including external features, such as softness to the touch, and internal features, such as sweetness. Fruits also change color as they ripen. This happens because of the breakdown of a green pigment called chlorophyll, along with the creation and accumulation of other pigments responsible for red, purple, or blue hues anthocyanin , or bright red, yellow, and orange hues carotenoids , to name a few.

First, how is fruit softness regulated? The softness or firmness of a fruit is determined by the state of its cell walls. The three main polysaccharide of the cell wall are cellulose , hemicellulose and pectin. Cellulose is made up of hundreds of glucose sugars joined together to form a long chaiin; hemicelluloses are also long chains of sugars, but unlike cellulose, these can include many different types of sugar, such as glucose, xylose, galactose, and mannose and instead of being linear are branched structures; pectins are also long branched chains of sugars, but in this case the sugars are galacturonic acid, rhamnose, galactose, and arabinose.

As the cell wall begins to break down, the fruit starts to get softer [ 2 ]. Cell wall breakdown happens when proteins called enzymes dissolve these important cell wall polysaccharides.

The activity of these enzymes is directly linked to the shelf life and texture of the fruit [ 2 ]. Fruit softness is also affected by the fluid pressure inside the plasma membrane called turgor pressure. Turgor pressure keeps the fruit firm, just like air pressure inside a balloon keeps the balloon firm. After maturation or harvest, fruits lose fluid water , causing a decrease in turgor pressure, so the fruits shrivel. During ripening, there is an increase in the breakdown of starch inside the fruit, and a corresponding increase in the amount of simple sugars which taste sweet, such as sucrose, glucose, and fructose.

This process is particularly obvious in bananas as they ripen. Green bananas do not taste sweet at all, and the riper they get, the sweeter they taste. There is also a decrease in acidity as the fruit ripens and a decrease in bitter plant substances, such as alkaloids. Last, as fruits ripen they produce complex compounds that are released into the surrounding air, giving a ripe fruit its pleasant aroma.

Through these changes, fruits ripen and become sweet, colored, soft, and good-tasting. A major concern with ripened fruit is that it does not last very long before it begins to spoil. The loss of firmness and the production of sugars associated with ripening can also make the fruit susceptible to pathogens like bacteria and spoilage. Over-softening of fruit is a major cause of spoilage during transportation, particularly for tropical fruits, such as mangoes and bananas.

Spoilage can be reduced by rapid transportation of fresh fruits, or by slowing down fruit ripening. For apples that will be stored longer than two months, it is imperative to harvest them before the level of ethylene begins its rapid increase.

Plums and peaches are also sensitive to ethylene and will continue to ripen after harvest in response to this hormone.

Some varieties of plums, such as Shiro, ripen very slowly since ethylene production is suppressed. With these suppressed-climacteric types, fruit may remain under-ripe if harvested too early. Other plum varieties such as Early Golden ripen very rapidly. In this case, harvest should be timed more precisely so that fruit are not over-ripe when they reach the consumer. In: Davies DD, editor. The biochemistry of plants.

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Bangladesh and Europe Dhaka, Bangladesh: European Union. Download references. MNI carried out a major part of the literature review and drafted the manuscript. MM carried out literature review for selected sections and helped to revise the manuscript. MSK conceived the study, supervised the research project, coauthored and supervised manuscript preparation, and helped to finalize the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The research and manuscript are free of conflict of interest.

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Mohidus Samad Khan. Reprints and Permissions. Islam, M. A review on the legislative aspect of artificial fruit ripening. Download citation. Received : 14 January Accepted : 13 May Published : 20 June Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search all BMC articles Search. Download PDF. Abstract Fruit ripening is a natural process in which a fruit goes through various physical and chemical changes and gradually becomes sweet, colored, soft, and palatable.

Background Different fruit ripening agents can be used to ripen fruits artificially and to provide fruits the desired color and taste within a short time. Artificial fruit ripening Mechanism of natural fruit ripening Natural fruit ripening is a combination of physiological, biochemical, and molecular processes [ 21 — 24 ]. Table 1 List of commonly used chemicals for fruit ripening and their effects on human health [ 1 , 5 — 7 , 32 ] Full size table.

Table 2 Laws and regulations practiced in the SAARC countries to prohibit artificial fruit ripening and food adulteration [ 40 ] Full size table. Full size image. The GSO consists of three subcommittees for food-related issues [ 58 ]: 1. Labeling Subcommittee presided by Oman 3.

Additives Subcommittee presided by Saudi Arabia The standard no. For example, Qatar imposed a set of regulations on food quality investigation [ 60 ]: All newly processed food products arriving in the market are subjected to laboratory analysis Subsequent shipments of a product that has passed the initial testing will be subject to further laboratory analysis again after 6 months A product failing a previous inspection will be thoroughly examined on subsequent shipments for an undisclosed length of time.

Legal status: African countries In Africa, calcium carbide is widely used as an artificial fruit ripening agent [ 1 , 3 — 5 , 61 ]. Country focus: Nigeria Nigeria is a mixed economy emerging market in Africa. These codes are as follows [ 69 ]: Code of hygienic practice for canned fruit and vegetable products Code of hygienic practice for dried fruits Code of hygienic practice for dehydrated fruits and vegetables including edible fungi Code of practice for the packaging and transport of fresh fruit and vegetables Code of hygienic practice for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Controlling and prohibiting artificial fruit ripening in Nigeria. Legal status: western countries In different Western countries, selected ripening agents are allowed to be applied to ripen specific fruits under controlled condition.