Effects of hydrocooling on the post-harvest conservation and quality of spring onion

Resumo

Spring onion is one of the most used and traded vegetables in the world, essentially with a seasoning nature, it presents high perishability and susceptibility to water loss, which reduces its useful life, making it necessary to use post-harvest techniques, aiming to decrease its metabolic activity and extend its shelf life. The hydrocooling method, which consists of the immersion of the product in a mixture of water and ice, presents itself as a good alternative for the removal of the field heat and to favour the humidity of horticultural goods. The goal of this paper was to check the effects of hydrocooling on the post-harvest conservation and quality of spring onion, aiming to determine the best application time at 5ºC. The method showed efficient, especially on the control of mass loss and on the commercial visual aspects, with the most indicated time of 10 minutes.