Slower ripening, better apples

Generally when time passes, things taste better, especially food products we use to age like wine and cheese. However, who would have thought it was true even for fruit? Obviously not by aging, but by staying longer on the tree, apples ripen longer and become more beautiful and tastier! The Harvista^TM technology by Agrofresh, a multinational company with 800 patents and 3.500 customers worldwide, makes it possible.

During growth, apples produce ethylene, a hormone that accelerates ripening. Harvista, a 1-MCP based formulation, binds to the fruit ethylene receptor sites and prevents them from binding to ethylene. Therefore, ripening slows down and the harvest window is extended up to 14 days.

Staying longer on the tree has benefits for the quality of the apple: it gives a greater consistency to the flesh, minimizes disorders such as fruit cracking, fruit dropping, vitrescence and makes the ripening more uniform.

Used in combination with the Smart Fresh^TM programme by Agrofresh, which aims to optimise the "journey" of the fruit from the point of harvest to the point of sale, Harvista^TM offers a useful solution for producers who want to improve their apples. 

Agrofresh is exhibitor at Interpoma, the only fair in the world exclusively dedicated to apples.