North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Heath Flax" <8orge.onx@gmail.com>]

hi, 
First--am a returning participant here--by posting name I'm "heathflax" (at least presently and maybe as well when I was last posting from here in central New England, a couple years or more ago[-or I may have gone by something like "serge-8"])..

I've been planning to come back  for a while, frankly at least in part because I have accumulated a couple or more of by-now pressing matters to ask to discuss re: my projects, involving new variety establisment (, one wild find berry plant find, and a separate quest with the same type of berry to establish at least one clone from the wild, immune to a a certain common disease having as yet no variety immune or resistant).

Yet, I;m thinking maybe I can see if I can start out posting first in a vein of perhaps more  general interest or use..

...such as,  a thought about a possible little considered little plus to keeping fruits (such as berries) in modern refrigeration that may be apt to be the frost free kind:  
Sort of maybe as a compensation for the reality (at least in my experience)  that the frost free action's dehumidifying aspect may quite noticeably shrink berry volume, --wouldn't fruit sugars, and possibly even flavor, be apt to thereby be nicely increased in concentration? 
A la, moisture may become substantially reduced, but probably not sugar content; thus, the ration or per cent of  sugars should become augmented.

this though occurred to me over the course of a somewhat nonplussing recent series of negotiations I encountered with a  potential wholesale customer for some of my berries (blueberries)....who basically  came across as more or less anti-refrigeration for berries (though as it turned out, her farmhouse has a very very cool cellar, and her berries can go there--inf not in regular refrigeration-- overnight at least)...claims included,  blueberries put into a a refrigerator mold overnight (which I believe, and have found, is far, far from true!), it's o.k. or even better, to just leave them unrefrigerated for day or so unrefrigerated (she may have been thinking mostly about the overnight part--along with a factor that at her stand items like a few dozen blueberry or other berry pints, apparently routinely sell out the same day they're put out).  I'm not sure I can believe "better" as to one day no refrigeration, except possibly to protect the blue "bloom".on the berries and to have berries drier immediately upon.
Myself, sometimes before going to farmers market, early-day ones only, if the night temperature was  looking to be coolish,  and the picking day had been either not hot and/or one in which I had picked late in the day, and the berries had been firm and dry on the bushes,   i've sometimes done that leaving-out-overnight thing.  But not too often--since to me at least, protecting the basic condition and flavor of the berries is more important than just trying to preserve  the blue bloom color! 
But anyway, listening to her accounting of the drawbacks of refrigeration, at least frost-free type, I had a perhaps very very late arriving (considering many many years of involvement with berries) "light going on"  experience of the new realization mentioned of the hidden possible advantage mentioned about potential sweetness increase.

...Not sure what others have found, but I have no recall somehow, of ever hearing of this possible factor...if true, maybe a not-so-bad tradeoff (for things like the likely simultaneous volume reduction) at least in some situations--conceivably might even be worth doing deliberately in some cases if some batch or some type of berries is a little underflavored to begin with?