Stability of Strawberry Fruit (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) Nutritional Quality at Different Storage Conditions

Abstract

Strawberry fruit is a very rich source of vitamins and phenolic compounds, which determine its nutritional properties. Strawberries are a highly perishable non-climacteric fruit, and their perishable nature can lead to physical and chemical damage during storage. Therefore, the large market of fresh fruit relies on the capacity of fast distribution and marketing under a continuous cold-storage chain. In this study, we applied different cold-storage temperatures (domestic −20 °C and industrial −80 °C) on different treatments (whole fruits and dried fruits) of three strawberry cultivars (Arianna, Francesca, and Silvia), for up to seven months, and evaluated the influence of different storage conditions and lengths on the stability of the fruits’ nutritional compounds (vitamin C, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and folate). The results show that the nutritional quality of the fruits was significantly affected by storage temperature (with −80 °C storage preserving more nutritional compounds), while storage time did not greatly affect the composition of the nutritional compounds in the whole or dried fruits. Oven drying the fruits dramatically affected their vitamin C content, almost completely degrading this compound (from 731.8 to 23.2 mg/kg at time 0 for fresh Arianna fruit, the cultivar with the highest amount). The amount of folate was increased during storage (from 126.17 at time 0 to 190.61 µg/kg at time 7 for fresh whole Arianna fruit). The interesting results obtained in this study are worth considering in future studies, to better plan fruit-storage conditions and time, for maintaining better fruit nutritional quality.