Ripening Stage Affects the Quality of Fresh and Dehydrated Pineapples (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) cv. Mauritius in Sri Lanka

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) being a non climacteric fruit, its flavor and sugar content does not increase after harvesting. Thus, the maturity stage at harvesting affects the quality of pineapples after harvesting. This study was conducted to compare the quality parameters at four different ripening stages of pineapple (cultivar Mauritius-Queen type) and their effect on sensory properties after dehydration. Pineapples were harvested at dark green, 50% yellow, 75% yellow and 100% yellow color stages. Total Soluble Solid (TSS) content, Titratable Acidity (TA), TSS/TA ratio, pH, Fruit firmness, L*,a*,b* and hue angle were quantified in fresh samples and the appearance, texture, taste, odor, color and overall acceptability were evaluated in dehydrated samples at each ripening stage. The ripening stage had a significant (P<0.05) effect on selected quality parameters of fresh pineapples. Highest TSS content of 17.75±0.67 was observed in 100% yellow stage whereas the lowest was observed in dark green stage (15.75±0.48). In contrast, the highest firmness was observed in dark green stage (27.47±6.4 N) while the lowest was in 100% yellow stage (12.01±1.17 N). Lowest pH and highest TA were observed in dark green stage while the highest pH and lowest TA were observed in 100% yellow stage with values of 3.49±0.06, 0.82±0.02, 3.74±0.01 and 0.78±0.02, respectively. Sensory evaluation revealed that 75% yellow stage is the optimum ripening stage for dehydration of pineapple (cultivar Mauritius-Queen type) with significantly greater sensory evaluation ranks compared to other stages. Abbreviations: TA, titratable acidity; TSS, total soluble solids; TSS/TA, total soluble solid/titratable acidity