Did You Know? Ripening (Havhala in Hebrew) is a word taken from the Talmud, which refers to terms relating to physical maturity, mentioning the ripening stages of the fig.
What is the ripening process?
Ripening is the process that generates a rapid ripening of fruits by using chemicals, in other words - artificial ripening.
Ripe fruits are generally not suitable for transport, since they may rot before reaching the end customer. As the shelf life of fruits is very short, they are harvested while being still unripe and undergo a ripening process just before the sale and marketing stage.
Written by Nir Gamliel
The ripening process grants the following advantages to farmers:
1. Tripling the shelf life of the fruit.
2. Maximum exploitation of the tree's fruits.
3. Controlling the quantities sold in the market at different times.
4. Work force economy: Without the ripening system, the farmer has to pick the fruits every day, in small quantities and according to the number and quantity of ripe fruits available on the same day, while a controlled harvest is carried out according to the size of the fruit in its unripe stage and the ripening process is performed according to the market demands.
There are two primary ways to implement ripening in the market:
1. Fast ripening: ranging from one day to four days.
2. Slow ripening: ranging from four days to a week and a half.
Through the ripening process, it is in effect possible to delay the natural ripening process of fruits, and to store the fruits, which are still unripe, in cooling houses (refrigeration rooms).
The fruits that are intended for ripening are stored in sealed refrigerated rooms, into which ethylene gas is injected at low concentrations and according to the type of fruit.
The ethylene stimulates the maturation processes, partially because it destroys the chlorophyll in the fruit peel and turns the fruit starch into sugar. This process involves a combination of systems that must work parallelly in order to conduct a precise chemical process. A ripening set-up that is constructed in poor quality and inaccurately may cause over-ripening of the fruits and consequently cause anguish and great financial damage to agriculturists and cultivators.
The Ripening set-up in a refrigeration room has to be precise and constructed with high quality raw materials. The entire system needs to be synchronized and working in harmony with the cooling units, fogging and humidity systems and this through through the installation of automatic controllers which operate and verify in a continuous and precise manner the complete process, thus enabling an optimal, economical, reliable and sustainable solution for agriculturists and cultivators.
Agrocold Ltd. designs, manufactures and installs humidification and ripening systems in industrial refrigeration rooms, automated systems that provide agriculturists and cultivators command and control over the quantities and concentrations of ethylene gas for ripening procedures for various fruits such as lemons, oranges, bananas, mangos and more.
Agrocold Ltd accompanies and guides the agriculturist through every stage of the ripening process until the desired, high quality and sustainable product is successfully achieved.
Agrocold Ltd. provides professional counseling to agriculturists and cultivators in the field of Refrigeration, air conditioning, electricity, and construction of packaging houses.