| Dear Mr. Flax,   In my opinion, a lot of the eating experience 
is juice.  If I understand your question correctly, I doubt you'd gain much 
appeal by a more shriveled berry, unless you intend to dry them 
completely.   Mark KS 
  ----- Original Message -----  Sent: Monday, July 14, 2008 11:16 
AM Subject: [NAFEX] hidden benefit of frost 
  free refrigeration 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?
 
 
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