3. Results and discussion
The effect of a range of dipping solutions on browning development
expressed as postharvest life, being the time for the surface
flesh colour to decline to L-value of 76.5 Minolta colour units, was
initially examined for ascorbic acid and calcium ascorbate in water
and in the presence of sodium chloride. The concentration of calcium
ascorbate solutions is expressed in terms of molarity of the
ascorbate ion, that is, as calcium0.5 ascorbate. Experiment 1 in
Table 1 shows firstly, that dipping in 0.1 mol/l sodium chloride
increased the postharvest life from about 3 days for water control
slices to 7.5 days.