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Several pre-storage time (0, 1, 2, 4, and 6 d) and temperature (3.5°, 100, 15°, 20°, 25°, and 30°C) delayed cooling (DC) treatments were tested on harvested 'Honeycrisp'™ apples to determine which combination was optimal for reducing soft scald and low temperature breakdown (LTB), while maintaining the highest fruit quality [i.e., firmness, minimal mass loss, titratable acidity (TA), soluble solids content (SSC), absence of rot, and minimal skin greasiness] after 4 months of refrigerated air (RA) storage. Fruit were harvested from three separate Annapolis Valley (Nova Scotia) orchard sites in 2006 and in 2007. Multiple linear regression and surface response curves showed that fruit firmness and SSC generally increased throughout the DC treatment, but were affected curvilinearly by temperature, reaching a maximum at approx. 15°C, then declining. Loss of fruit mass was positively related to a (day x temperature2) interaction, indicating that it increased synergistically the longer and the warmer the DC treatment. Fruit acidity was affected only by temperature, with the highest TA values at approx. 15°C, then declining at higher DC temperatures. Multiple logistic regression and surface responses demonstrated that the incidence of soft scald declined curvilinearly the longer and the warmer the DC treatment, while LTB declined curvilinearly with increasing DC temperature only. A positive (day2 x temperature2) interaction indicated that fruit greasiness increased non-linearly as the duration and temperature of DC increased. Collectively, these results show that both soft scald and LTB were suppressed or eliminated by a DC regime of 25°C for 1 -2 d, or 30°C for 1 d, without incurring a major reduction in fruit quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]