Is Darker Better?

Overview

Objectives/Goals The objective is to determine which color tray will decrease raisin drying time without effecting raisin quality. Methods/Materials Obtained/picked approx 500lbs of Thompson seedless grapes. Obtained butcher paper and cut out 4 trays (27#x33#) of Black, blue, brown, green, pink, and poly coated trays. Weigh out 21lbs of grapes and place it on a tray. This process was repeated for all 24 trays. Weighed trays periodically, until they reach approx. 5lbs. Have raisins analyzed by USDA inspection service to determine quality. Results Grapes on dark brown and black trays reached the 5 lb threshold faster then other colors. Raisin quality was highest for the poly coated tray followed by black. Conclusions/Discussion My conclusion was that while the black tray did not dry the fastest nor have the highest quality raisins, it was second in both areas but not by much. This suggest that the darker tray could provide a farmer with an opportunity to consistently decrease drying time while still providing high quality fruit. This decreases the farmers risk of crop loss while maximizing returns.

Competition history

• CSEF 2014 Product Science (Biological) (Junior Division Only) · Entry J2014

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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