Establecimiento del período óptimo de almacenamiento para guayaba, mandarina y tomate guardados a temperatura ambiente.

The fact of being able to settle the good periods of storage to guarantee the maximum use to fruits and vegetables constitutes today a world premise leaving the alimentary crisis that actually crosses the world. The present work is focused in to determine the optimal storage period for guava, mandarin and tomato, as well as their different consumption stages during this period starting from the change in its physical-mechanical properties. For this study 70, 80 and 80 fruits were used, separated in samples of 10, 20 and 20 guavas, mandarin and tomatoes, which were stored in carton and wood boxes (for guavas) and plastic bags and carton boxes for mandarin and tomato kept at room temperature during 7, 12 and 12 days, respectively. For each fruit the weight lost, pH, SSC and firmness were determined, relating each property with storage time through excel calculation tool, supplied for Microsoft Office. The results show that the guava keep good properties to be consumed as fresh fruit during the first 4 days, and later it can receive another type of utility, on the other hand, the tomato from day 9 onward presents a high maturation index, thus after this day it could be industrially processed as juice, puree or another application and the orange conserves its properties for the consumption as fresh fruit during the whole analyzed period. The best results as for conservation were obtained when the fruits were stored in wooden boxes for the guava and in plastic bags for mandarin and tomatoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]