| ≥1 piece |
As a major producer we keep the newly harvested lemon fruits for 48 hours at 60º F (15.56º C) and 95% humidity, then passes them through a pre-grading procedure to eliminate all that are unusable. The usable fruits are then treated with fungicide against stem-end rot and returned to the curing room. Those harvested early in the season need 3 weeks to color-up, the last may require less than a week. Finally, the fruits are washed, given a second fungicidal treatment, dried, waxed and packed.
Generally, lemons are cured at 56º to 58º F (13.33º-14.4º C)and 85-90% relative humidity. Green fruits may be held for 4 months or more, while the peel becomes yellow and thinner, the pulp juicier (6-80%) and the proportion of soluble solids higher (7-24%). Sometimes the degreening process is hastened by exposing the fruit to ethylene gas, ethephon, or silane, but this practice tends to stimulate decay, mainly through the shedding of the "button" (stem stub), the absence of which allows entry of Diplodia natalensis, Phomopsis citri, or Alternaria mycelium. Various auxins have been studied to determine which can be applied before storage to prevent button loss without delaying de-greening.