Internal Quality Attributes and Sensory Characteristics of ‘Ambrosia’ Apples with Different Dry Matter Content after a Two-Week and a Ten-Week Air Storage at 1 °C

This research was conducted to determine the compositional and textural characteristics and sensory profile of ‘Ambrosia’ apples with different dry matter content (DMC) as estimated using a Felix-750 Produce Quality Meter (Felix Instruments Inc., Camas, WA, USA). Fruits were harvested from a commercial orchard in Cawston and an experimental field in Summerland Research and Development Centre (SuRDC) in British Columbia, Canada, when the average absorbance difference index/coefficient of fruit skin δAbsorbance (δA) dropped under 0.45 ± 0.10. DMC levels were estimated after harvest at the blush/background transition zone for fruit categorization on 300 fruits from each location. Fruits were coded with an individual number and grouped in different DMC categories. The distribution of the estimated DMC levels obtained from two locations was different. The results indicate that DMC levels were strongly and positively correlated with the soluble solids content (SSC) of the fruit (r = 0.81). Sensory evaluations also demonstrated that apples in the lowest DMC category (12.5% ± 0.5 from Cawston) were considered the least sweet apples with the least overall flavour quality by panellists compared to the apples from the other DMC categories included in the sensory evaluations from the two locations. Panellists also perceived less-than-expected “fresh apple” and “tropical” flavours but more-than-expected “no flavour” and “bland” off flavour from the lowest-DMC-category apples. The non-destructive DMC measurements show a potential to be used to sort apples for SSC, sweetness and flavour; nevertheless, they were not related to firmness or textural attributes.