Chinese firm GoodWave Technology Ltd has successfully trialled a new treatment on Solo Sunrise papaya grown in Hainan.
The company’s Dr Eric SK Leung told FPJ: “Sunrise papaya is one of the best papaya varieties, well known for its taste and high sugar content, with a unique reddish pulp when it is properly ripened on the tree.
“Once a Sunrise papaya’s flesh turns yellowish, its pulp will start to turn from an orange to a reddish colour. However, papaya only has a couple of days’ shelf life once its pulp turns reddish.
“On the 26th day out of coldstorage at 15°C, our papaya was able to achieve a brix of 13 plus. That is about 20 to 30 per cent higher in sugar content than what is commonly available on the supermarket shelf,” added Leung.
“Scientists believe that papaya stops creating more sugar after picking. This is true, because the enzyme necessary to turn starch into sugar within a papaya pulp slows significantly after harvesting. If one can extend the shelf life of a papaya after its picking to compensate for the slowdown in enzyme activity, consumers will be able to enjoy sweet papaya even in countries far away from production areas,” said Leung.
GoodWave will start shipping commercial volumes of its papaya in the middle of 2009, when the papaya season starts in China, followed by product from South Africa.
GoodWave Technology also supplies lychees under the Red Empress name to the retail market from South Africa, pictured, and China. “We are focusing our lychee sales on the major retail channels,” said Leung. “We have seen a significant drop in end-consumer demand at retail level. We have reduced our export volume by more than 50 per cent compared to 2007 in order to hold a steady sales price.
“Retail buyers in the UK, Canada and the US have also recently stepped up demands for us to provide clean and residue-free lychee products,” added Leung. “Although production costs on our sulphur-free lychee are higher than on conventional sulphur-treated lychee, we have little choice but to follow our customers’ requests.”
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