Effect of Aloe Vera Gel Coating on Storage Time and Physicochemical Properties of Apricots

In recent years, edible coatings have received much attention due to their functional properties and have been used for a number of food products including fruits. Apricot is one of the fruits with short shelf life. Therefore, this study aimed to increase the shelf life of apricots at refrigerator temperature using edible aloe vera coating and to investigate its physicochemical properties. For this purpose, aloe vera gel was first prepared, dried and powdered. Then 0, 1 and 2% solutions of aleo vera powder were prepared and apricots of Rajabali cultivar were dipped for 5 minutes in solutions. The apricots were then packed in polystyrene containers and stored in the refrigerator at 4±1°C and 60±5% relative humidity. The samples were removed from the refrigerator at 0, 5, 15 and 25 days after storage, and physicochemical characteristics including weight loss, acidity, pH, firmness, vitamin C, mold percentage and color components were evaluated. Finally, the results were analyzed using a completely randomized design based on factorial test. The results showed that aloe vera gel at 2% concentration was highly effective in increasing the shelf life of apricots up to 25 days and the control samples without aloe vera coating had a significant decrease in quality and up to 50% moldiness. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of aloe eera edible coating increases apricot shelf life, preserves physicochemical properties and decreases moldiness in apricots. In this way Rajabali apricots could be preserved for 15 days at cold stores.