Effect of Harvest Date, Storage Period, and Ripening Time on the Quality of Chinese Gooseberries

Excerpts from the report: The Chinese Gooseberry (Actinidia chinensis Planch), also known as Kiwi fruit, was brought to California about 45 years ago by research workers at the U.S. Plant Introduction Station at Chico. In 1961, the plant was released by that station as a potential new fruit crop for the United States. Since that time, small, but expanding, plantings of the vine have been made in suitable growing areas of California. Little work has been done on the postharvest handling of Chinese gooseberries in the United States. Because of the potential commercial importance of the crop, more information was needed on the physiological changes that occur in the fruit during storage and ripening, on the optimum dates for picking the fruit for immediate marketing or for storage, and on other factors affecting the postharvest quality of the fruit.