The color and sugar levels of apples are not useful indicators of when the fruit is ready to pick, says Dr. Bill Wolk, postharvest specialist with the Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative in British Columbia, Canada. And, delaying harvest for several days to attain more color or sweetness can shorten the storage life of the fruit by months. Color and sugar levels are quality parameters, not maturity parameters, Wolk points out. The quality parameters that most affect growers’ returns are color and firmness, and, to a lesser extent, sugars. Of these three, firmness is the one most affected by maturity. Ripening […]