At Zemach Growers at the Sea of Galliee, cold store operator Itzhak Itzhaki says ” The extra humidity has made all the difference in our ripening process. The quality of all the fruit has improved dramatically. Apart from fruit picked in our driest season, we no longer have to take the risk of ruined shipments. We can add humidity and be sure the ripened fruit arrives in top condition to the supermarkets. The system is not cheap – but by saving the cost of ruined truckloads of bananas, there is no doubt that it pays off.”
Chiquita Brands Inc. and the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service sponsored research to re-examine banana ripening practices in 1995. The research recommendation:
“We feel that the best humidity recommendation for bananas after transport is to keep the fruit at a constant high humidity of 95% RH, particularly during the ripening cycle. It does not appear that a brief period of lower humidity before gassing causes a decline in quality, as long as ripening humidity is high. High humidity may delay ripening slightly, but the advantage of reduced scarring outweighs this small delay. From our studies, it does not seem necessary to reduce humidity during ripening to avoid disease problems, and this practice may be detrimental to overall fruit quality.”
– from “High Relative Humidity after Ethylene Gassing is Important to Banana Fruit Quality” , Sylvia Blankenship and Robert W. Herdeman; HortTechnology Apr/June 1995.
For the full research report and more information on ripening rooms, please contact us.