Factors influencing the drained weight, texture and other processing characteristics of canned strawberries

Abstract

The influence of variety, spin cooking and vacuum closing on the quality of canned strawberries was investigated. The characteristics observed were drained weight, pH, acid concentration and texture.A new variety named Majestic had significantly higher drained weight, acid concentration, pH and texture than Phenomenal, the major variety grown in Queensland. It also had a higher drained weight value when grown in one particular area.With the Phenomenal variety, spin cooking, compared with rotary atmospheric cooking, gave a significantly higher drained weight. In addition, the fruit retained its shape and did not collapse to the same extent.For both varieties vacuum closing gave significantly higher drained weight and acid concentration in the drained syrup than steam‐flow closing methods.