Ross equation was employed to calculate the sucrose amount needed to reach the desired aw (Alzamora et al. 1993):aw equilibrium ¼ aw 0 cherry aw 0 sucrose
where (aw0)cherry is the water activity of the fresh fruit (≈0.97) and (aw 0)sucrose is the water activity of the sucrose solution, both at the same molality as in the water of thefruit.