White - The Soul Food

White - the language of food. Ice cream, cheese, coconut, mashed potatoes, yogurt, fish and rice are generally served in white china set in white table cloth and napkins by white jacketed wait staff.

White or near white colors are our favourite food colors. Restaurants and cafes in white suggest comfort, good nutrition, cleanliness and wholesomeness.

The next favourite color for diners is brown. Whole grains, bread, tea, beans come in this shade.

Of the opposite scale, blue and black kills the appetite. Can you recall any blue leafy vegetables?

Degreening From Green To Orange

Green is unattractive. At least for citrus fruits like navel oranges, Valencia oranges, lemons and mandarin oranges.

We know that green oranges are generally immature. In order to make it appetizing, oranges are degreen to turn them from green to orange.

On a tree, oranges depends on the weather to change from green to orange color. Nature with a combination of temperature, humidity and gases to slowly turn the fruit to orange color.

Citrus Degreening are done to hasten the discoloration. Degreening chambers are used for hastening this process. Insulated from the natural envirnoment, harvested oranges are placed in such chambers and the parameters of an optimum weather conditions for turning the color from green to orange are then regulated, kept and monitored.

Temperature, humidity, oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene level are regulated to optimise the degreening process.

Remember to take your vitamin C.

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RETA 6208 Training-Workshop on Postharvest Research and Technology Development
Training Manual on Postharvest Research and Technology Development for Tomato and Chilli in RETA 6208 Countries

The Power Fruit

Banana peel reveals the stage of ripeness. Bananas are harvested green and at this stage the green peel is firm. As soon as the banana stem is cut from the plant, ripening starts.

• Bananas are harvested green.
• They sweeten as they ripen, as the banana ripens, the peel color lightens and changes to yellow.
• During this process, the starch within the banana converts to sugar giving riper bananas their creamy, sweet taste.

Do not place bananas in your fridge, leave them on the counter is good enough. To hasten the ripening process you can place them in a brown paper bag and close it. The ethylene that's produced by the ripening process actually speeds the ripening process.

Watch the banana peel.

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Check this Banana Color Chart - Suggested Guide For Banana Ripening.

New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2007, Vol. 35: 193–199 : Preliminary investigation into the uneven ripening of banana (Musa sp.) peel