What is "browning" and how does it happen in fruit? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Enzymatic browning occurs in fruits and vegetables due to bruising, peeling, or cutting. Exposed flesh may turn yellow-brown to black; this pigment change can happen quite quickly and is not attractive to consumers. Browning of fruits occurs due to the oxidation of naturally occurring phenolic compounds by enzymes that would not normally be directly exposed to oxygen; the enzymatically oxidized pulp then produces a change in color due to quinone compounds (Brown & Hall, 2008). A 2018 study (Deng, Yang, Capanoglu, Cao & Xiao, 2018) demonstrated that atmospheres with low O2 pressures had less enzymatic browning than those with higher O2 environments. This indicates that the presence of oxygen with the enzyme are key factors in browning. Browning of fruits is due to an imbalance of oxidative and reductive processes due to oxygen exposure to open wounds. Is there a difference in browning between sliced ​​and wedged fruit pieces and why? There is a difference between wedged and sliced ​​pieces of fruit. Wedged samples would have a lower surface-to-volume ratio than fruit slices. This being the case, even if they are different denominations, the results show very similar trends. Most cuts became more opaque after 120 minutes and had a more yellow color than the control at 0 minutes. Is there a difference between ripe and unripe apples and bananas and why? Ripe bananas contain about 1% starch but when they are overripe they do not contain any, being unripe bananas have a higher percentage of starch since it has not yet been converted into sugars. Making unripe bananas very starchy and not sweet (Marriott, Robinson & Karikari, 1981). However, apples are not completely composed of starch; the carbohydrates that make up apples create rigid structures that help maintain the shape of the fruit, water enters and exits the apple's cells and gives it a juicy texture (Quadram Institute, 2018). Does citric acid affect browning and explain why? Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a custom essay In table 1 citric acid had an effect on the products, however not all the same. The apple pieces were both quite similar in terms of brightness compared to the original control readings, they became slightly darker with a more yellowish appearance. Although both apple samples did this, the apples with citric acid showed fewer changes than the apples that had nothing applied. Citric acid on both ripe and unripe banana wedges appeared to be significantly worse than without acid in terms of brightness and darkness. As stated previously in question 1, browning occurs when naturally occurring phenolic compounds are oxidized by enzymes that would not normally be directly exposed to oxygen, making enzymes an essential role in browning. If the environment changed the pH to the point where the enzyme would not be able to tolerate/function, this means that the citric acid is at a low enough concentration to cause a loss of enzyme activity ( McCORD and Kilara, 1983).