Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2014
Introduction. Our investigationaimed to examine the influence of eco-friendly edible coatings composedof sodium alginate, olive oil and green tea extract (GTE) on improvingthe shelf life and nutritional quality of carambola (A. carambola L.). Materials and methods. The combinations and concentrationsof composite coatings tested were (2% sodium alginate + 0.1% oliveoil) (T1), (2% sodium alginate + 0.2% olive oil) (T2) and (2% sodiumalginate + 0.1% olive oil + 0.25% GTE) (T3), while the untreatedfruit served as control (T4) and were stored at (25 ± 5) °C and(65 ± 5)% RH. All the stored fruit were subjected to physico-chemicaland biochemical analysis at regular intervals of 4 days up to 16 daysof their storage period. Results and discussion. Weightloss and decay occurrence were least in the fruit treated with T1and T2 as compared with those of T3 and uncoated fruit (T4). Thecontents of total soluble solids, total sugars and changes in pigmentswere found to be least in fruit treated with T1 followed by thosetreated with T2 and T3. The addition of GTE (T3) to treated fruit duringthe storage helped enhance the antioxidants such as total phenols andascorbic acid. Conclusion. The composite edible coatingstested in our study enhanced the shelf life of coated carambolafruit, i.e., thirteen days for T1, sixteen daysfor T2, fourteen days for T3 and twelve days for control or untreatedfruit (T4); the nutritional quality of carambola was enhanced withthe treatment of edible coating containing GTE.