Annona Species Monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

Chapter 11. Harvest & Processing
Sugar apple, as well as cherimoya will benefit from the use of plastic packing
film and potassium permanganate, since it acts only on the external ethylene
gas expelled by the fruit during the ripening process by inhibiting this gas
and prolonging post-harvest life of climacteric fruit (Pinto, 1978). Another
advantage of potassium permanganate is the possibility of decreasing fruit
injury by maintaining firmness, as well as being safer for consumption
compared with other post-harvest preservation products, which may cause
consumer concerns about allergic problems.
11.5 Processing
Annona fruits are mainly consumed as fresh fruit, however, some of them,
such as soursop, sugar apple and atemoya, can be processed and used in the
preparation of nectars, drinks, sherbets, ice cream, syrup and cakes. Soursop
is the most suitable for processing, not only because of its high sugar content
and delicate, aromatic flavour, but also because its pulp does not oxidize like
that of sugar apple and cherimoya (George, 1984; Villachica et al., 1996;
Mororó et al., 1997).
Figure 11-1. Sketch of a mechanized system to process fruit pulp: A)
rinse/immersion; B) rinse/aspersion; C) selection; D) endless spiral
system; E) storage tank; F) pulp extractor; G) pulp storage tank; H)
pump; I) seal bag
Adapted from Mororó et al., 1997.
Before processing, mature soursop fruits should be stored on racks in the
shade and inspected daily. As the fruits ripen, they should be removed and
processed for pulp extraction. For hand pulp extraction to produce soursop
concentrate, Torres and Sánchez (1992) suggested the following steps: 1)
fruit selection; 2) fresh water rinse; 3) hand peeling; 4) seed removal; 5) pulp
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