The effect of heat treatment (30°C-4, 8, 24hr, 35°C-4, 8, 24hr, 40°C-4 hr and 45°C-4 hr) on the quality of strawberry fruits (Fragaria x ananassa Duch. cv. Nyoho) stored at 1°C for 28 days was investigated. 1. No visible change of the fruits was found immediately after heat treatment. The heat treatment at 35°C for 24hr and at 40°C and 45°C for 4 hr was effective to reduce the decay of the fruits during storage. 2. Fungal growth of microorganisms isolated from strawberries including Rhyzopus and Botrytis on the White medium was also inhibited by the heat treatment (35°C-45°C). 3. The fruits treated with 30°C-24hr and control fruits softened gradually during storage at 1°C, while softening of the fruits treated with 35°C-24hr and 45°C- 4 hr was inhibited markedly. 4. The content of total pectin (TP) decreased in all of fruits treated with different temperatures during storage and TP content in the fruits treated with 30°C-24hr and control fruits decreased rapidly in the latter half of the storage period. 5. Anthocyanin content of the fruits increased slightly in the early period of storage, then decreased gradually except for the fruits treated with 35°C-24hr and 45°C-4 hr. Judging from these results, it was suggested that the heat treatment can be useful for long-term storage of strawberry fruits.

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The “koji” for manufacturing “miso” showed 15.8U/g lipase activity, and an initial “miso” freshly prepared was showed 7.0U/g. Variation of lipase activity in the course of the “miso” aging was found to be negligible. Increase of ethanol content with aging of “miso” fermentation was examined by gas chromatography. At the first stage of fermentation, no ethanol was found, while 1.5% of ethanol was found at 30°C after 15days, and 2.5% after 30 days fermentation. The rations of ethylesters of fatty acid to total fatty acids varied as follows : the ratio of about 10.5% after 15 days fermentation at 30°C was found, and rose up to about 25.7% after 30 days, while the ratio for 15 days at 20°C showed only 5.2%, and for the 30 days at 20°C, 10.4% of esters were found. By the additional lipase on the standard miso manufacturing, the content of ethylesters of fatty acids showed a remarkable increase in comparison with no lipase “miso” fermentation. The ratio of the esters to total fatty acids was found to be about 45%.

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Soy bean cotyledons of 7 day-old sprouts cultivated in the usual manner were treated with carbon dioxide gas for 18hrs before harvesting and the GABA contents of the sprouts were determined by GC and HPLC. As the results, GABA Content was increased to 136mg/100g from 15mg/100g of air treated cotyledon, and it was about 15 times higher than that of air treated cotyledon of sprouts. The GABA rich soy bean sprouts were kept in the dark for 21 hrs in a 200ml glass flask containing no-oxygen air at a low temperature of 5.0°C, In this case a significant decrease of GABA was not observed in the storage duration. GABA formation in the anaerobic treatment of soy bean sprouts has been established to occur by L-glutamic acid decarboxylation in the experiments of the previous studies. Carbon dioxide gas treatment in our experiment and not showed the suppression effect on GABA formation, contrary to our expectation. However, the additional succinic acid group showed some increase of GABA content, so it was seem to be another pathway other than the as succinic semialdehyde pathway which may be correlated with GABA formation.

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Changes in lipid composition and fatty acid composition of total lipids in Kaiware radish (Raphanus satives, LINN.) seeds during germination and growth up to 6 days at 25°C were studied. The decrease of total lipids content (g/100 g dry samples) was observed during germination and growth. Concerning the changes in contents of each lipid composing the total lipids, triacylglycerol, sterol and phospholipid fraction contents decreased during germination and growth, particularly, the decrease of triacylglycerol was significant. On the changes of fatty acid composition of total lipids, a decrease of 18 : 1 n 9, 20 : 1 n 9 contents and an increase of 16 : 0, 18 : 2 n 6 contents were observed. Then, 18 : 3 n 3 content decreased 2 days after seeding and increased afterward. Whereas, 22 : 1 n 9 content increased in 2 days after seeding and decreased after that.

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Begonia (Begonia semperflorence LINK et OTTO) flowers were harvested by hand as the edible flowers and stored in lidded PVC cup at 2°C and 20°C for testing the storage quality test. The deterioration rate of freshness in white flowers (cv. Persity white) was faster than red flowers (cv. Persity red) within 2 days storage at both temperatures, but the rates in white, red and pink flowers (cv. Finale) were the same after that. The freshness was maintained for 3 days at 20°C, and maintained for 7 days at 2°C. White flowers were harvested by hand and scissors. The deterioration rate of freshness in picked flowers was faster than in snipped flowers.

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