Alfalfa is a perennial leguminous grass. Recently, use of alfalfa sprouts as a vegetable have become popular in Japan. The sprouts are small and thin enough to be eaten raw.
This study was designed to examine the effects of greening and storage conditions on the quality of alfalfa sprouts. Ordinary sprouts were grown in the dark, and the greening was conducted treating the 6 days old sprouts with sun-light for 9 hours at room temperature.
The results obtained were as follows ;
1) Sprouts stored at 2°C kept freshness for a longer period and showed less decrease of total sugar, reducing sugar, and ascorbic acid contents than those stored at 20°C.
2) Little effect of storage position, standing or laying, on the contents of o-diphenol, total sugar, reducing sugar, free amino acid, and ascorbic acid was observed, whereas laid sprouts showed bending upward.
3) Greening showed some effects to keep freshness and to retard decrease of sugar and ascorbic acid contents of sprouts during storage as compared with those of etiolated sprouts.

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Changes in the contents of carbohydrates in pilei and stipes of Shiitake-mushroom [Lentinus edodes (BERK.) SING.)] during post-harvest storage at six storage temperatures (-20, 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30°C) and two drying processes (air drying, freeze drying) were investigated. (1) The shelf life of Shiitake-mushroom was about 20-24 days at 0°C, about 15 days at 5°C, 6-8 days at 10°C, 3-4 days at 20°C and 2-3 days at 30°C. (2) In this mushroom, arabitol, mannitol, trehalose, glucose and fructose were identified, and arabitol, mannitol and trehalose were found to be major among them. During the post-harvest storage, the contents of each element decreased except mannitol. Especially the decrease in arabitol was marked, which shows that arabitol is a major respiratory substrate. The arabitol consumption at 5°C are much less than 10°C, and the storage at the below 5°C turned out to be an effective way of storing. (3) The five polysaccharide fraction contents : formic acid-soluble fraction (R-glucan), alkali-soluble, acid-soluble fraction, hot alkali-soluble fraction, alkali-soluble, acid-insoluble fraction (s-glucan) and Chitin had no change during the post-harvest storage, and had a role of composing elements of cell wall. The acetic acid-soluble fraction content of the post-harvest storage decreased, and it was storage carbohydrate. (4) The contents of free sugars, free sugar alcohols and polysaccharides of Shiitake-mushroom during the air drying process and the freeze drying process had no change.

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