The firmness of the apple wedges was measured every other day
up to the 18th day of storage. For each test, 5 wedges from each treatment
batch were evaluated using an INSTRON 4411 with load cell of
5 kN equipped with 5 mm puncture thickness fix (Instron, Mass.,
USA). Each sample wedge was fractured by downward motion
(150 mm·s−1
). The maximum force (highest N value) applied to
break the wedge was taken as the index of firmness