is growing, a shift in industry priorities and tomato quality is being
strongly considered.
In this review the cultural factors that may influence fruit sugars
after harvest are examined. How fruit sugars are typically assayed
from a postharvest quality perspective, and how this relates to
taste will be examined first. Second, although each tomato has
a genetically pre-determined ceiling on its highest achievable
sugar content, whether this is reached depends on a multitude
of events that may have occurred hundreds of kilometers away
from, and 3–4-month prior to, the place and time of consumption.
Environmental factors such as cultivation practices and climatic
conditions during plant development, and their influence on fruit
sugars will be considered. Third, postharvest practices can have
an overwhelming affect on marketplace fruit sugar. Therefore how
fruit maturation at harvest, storage temperatures, modified atmospheres
and physical treatments influence fruit sugar content in
whole, minimally processed fruit, grown in soil will be illustrated.
This review is not meant to be an exhaustive survey of the literature.
The aim is to provide an integrated view of all of the elements
that may affect tomato sugars when it reaches the consumer