Controlling weight loss during sweet cherry marketing

Rapid cooling after harvest, and continuing protection from heat during transit and marketing, are essential to avoid fruit shriveling and quality deterioration of sweet cherries. Delays of four hours or more between harvesting and cooling were particularly damaging, according to tests at Davis. Rapid cooling by forced air was found superior to slower methods in common use. Cherries exposed to hot, dry air during transit on open trucks lost weight rapidly in comparison to similar fruit protected by a wet canvas cover. Whenever excessive losses of moisture occurred, sweet cherries soon shriveled and became dull and unsightly.