Lemon and Lime - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 368

Table 20.5. Sweets and ice galore from lemon.

Sweets Description

Lemon chiffon, orange flan,
meringue pie (pastry)

Prepared in advance and those containing milk, cream or eggs are refrigerated, otherwise
could lead to food poisoning.

Lemon and ginger ice Ices are basically frozen syrups flavored in a variety of ways, egg white, whipped cream

or some unbaked Italian meringue is sometimes added.

Lemon cake, refrigerated
(ice box cakes)

Cold sweets—use either sponge cake or bread crumbs made from sponge cake layered
with a creamed mixture of butter, sugar and eggs. Similar in texture to a butter cream
cake filling. The cake is chilled in the refrigerator for several hours. After unmolding, it
is garnished with whipped cream or hot chocolate sauce.

Lemon sorbets (water ice) Water/ice slush to which egg whites or unbaked Italian meringue have been added.

Sorbets are used for stuffing fruits such as oranges and lemons, or for mould ices,
particularly Neapolitans. Sherbet is the American name for water ices and sorbets.
Lemon cups (goes with sorbet). Lemon water ice-sweetened lemon juice mixed with
wine or liqueur and a syrup.

Lemon strawberry bombes Molded ice creams usually decorated after unmolding, sometimes very ornamental.

Lemon souffl´eand
semi-Freddo

Familiar English sweets or Spanish cream, while the American versions are called either
“Bavarian creams” or “Chiffon puddings.” Cold souffles are similar to a “French
Bavarois” but light and fluffy by inclusion of beaten egg whites.

Lemon water icing or glace Basic preparations for frozen and cold sweets.

Lemon snow Light-colored foaming mixture that includes beaten egg whites. Served in individual

portions in glasses or other small dishes.

Sources: Rubinstein and Bush (1977); Nilson (1973); Leith (1993).

other food products. The minced leaves are consumed in
certain Japanese dishes. In the Philippines, the chopped peel
is made into a sweetmeat with milk and coconut (Morton,
1987c).

changes ultimately lead to senescence. Lemons and limes
are nonclimacteric, and their respiration and ethylene pro-
duction rates are low during the ripening process (Kader,
2002). Postharvest changes are therefore low in relation
to commodities that are climacteric such as avocados, ba-
nanas, and berries (Mishra and Gamage, 2007). Most lemon
cultivars can be, and are, stored for a moderate amount of
time; this requires no special controlled atmosphere if the
environmental conditions of humidity and temperature are
carefully controlled and the fruit has been properly han-
dled. There are significant changes in the internal quality
of lemon fruit during storage: the percentage of juice in the
fruit increases by up to 16% during storage due to the water
stored in the peel; the acid content of fruit increases by up
to 24%, and the peel color changes from green to yellow
(Hardy, 2004; Saltveit, 2004; Kimball et al., 2005).

POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY AND STORAGE
TECHNOLOGIES
Fruits pass through five distinct physiological development
phases from initiation to (1) development (morphological
and chemical completion of tissue); (2) premature (devel-
opment period before the onset of maturation); (3) mature
(completion of fullness of growth and edible quality); (4)
ripe (maximum esthetic and edible quality); and (5) senes-
cence (leading to death and set the fruit worthless and inedi-
ble) (Mishra, 2007). The process of ripening signals the end
of development and the beginning of senescence. Growth
and development generally only occur while the organ is
attached to the plant, except in seed germination and sprout-
ing of storage organs. However, senescence will occur re-
gardless of whether the organ is attached or not, perhaps at
different rates. When lemon and lime fruits are harvested
from a plant, they continue to respire and transpire; such

Postharvest handling and storage
For fresh fruit, standard packing line operations are used
in this order: dumping, culling, washing, brushing, waxing,
drying, manual grading, sizing, and boxing (Rieger, 2006).
Each packinghouse may be set up slightly differently, but