RIPENING STAGE AND DRYING METHOD AFFECTING COLOUR AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA FRUITS IN ZIMBABWE

RIPENING STAGE AND DRYING METHOD AFFECTING COLOUR AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA FRUITS IN ZIMBABWE

LOVEJOY TEMBO

Z.A CHITEKA

IRENE KADZERE

FESTUS K AKINNIFESI

F. TAGWIRA

Ziziphus mauritiana Lamk. (Ber) fruit is harvested at different stages of ripening in the Zambezi valley of
Zimbabwe. We hypothesize that the organoleptic quality attributes of fruits depend on post-harvest
drying method and ripening stage at harvest. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of
different stages of ripening on the quality of Z. mauritiana fruits during drying. The fruits were graded
into green, yellowish-brown and brown categories and these formed the treatments. Some of these
fruits were blanched before drying for 1, 2 and 3 weeks under the solar dryer and the open sun drying
methods. The green fruits lost significantly (P<0.001) more weight during drying than the yellowish-
brown and brown fruits regardless of the drying methods. The development of browning was more on
the brown fruits than the green and yellowish-brown fruits

African Journal of Biotechnology

2008