Cavendish bananas (Musa spp. AAA group)
cv.“Grand Nain” Chiquita brand at commercial maturity
were purchased from General Produce Co. (Sacramento,
CA). At purchase, the bananas had been ripened with
ethylene gas and were at color stage 2.5 according to the
Dole color Chart (Dole Castle & Cook, Inc). They were
then stored at a controlled temperature of 18C until they
reached color stage 4 (a peel color more yellow than
green). The moisture content (MC) ranged from 73.5%
to 76.6% on a wet basis.