title: Influence of skin hardness on dehydration kinetics of wine grapes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Knowledge of the influence of initial mechanical properties on the evolution of the weight loss of berries through the drying process is scarce. Therefore, the main purpose of this work was to investigate the effect of skin hardness at two different physiological stages of off-vine drying kinetics of grapes. Skin hardness was evaluated as the berry skin-break force parameter, measured by the texture analysis test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The decrease of berry weight as a function of the drying time was linear, indicating that the drying rates were constant within each cultivar studied (Moscato bianco and Erbaluce), and for each ripening stage and berry skin hardness. The drying rates decreased as berry skin hardness increased for the ripest grapes in the cultivars studied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study allowed the assessment of the correlation between the skin hardness of fresh berries and the weight loss determined for different drying days.
authors.affiliation: Di.Va.P.R.A.-Microbiology and Food Technology sector, University of Turin, Via L. da Vinci 44, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy. luca.rolle@unito.it
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rolle
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caudana
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giacosa
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gerbi
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Río Segade
mesh_terms: D003890:Desiccation; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods*; D005524:Food Technology; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D027843:Vitis / Q000737:chemistry*; D014920:Wine