Surface Energies of Tomato and Bell Pepper Cultivars

Abstract

Fruit processing treatments, such as osmotic dehydration, washing, aqueous dips and coatings applications, and even microbial adhesion, depend critically on the surface energy of surfaces. Knowledge of these values can be used as reference targets for treatment formulations when complete wetting is necessary. Unripened and ripened tomato cultivars, `Ace' and `Castlemart', and bell pepper cultivars `California Wonder' and `Garden Sunshine' were characterized by color, firmness, and soluble solids, and evaluated for their surface energy. Calculated surface energy was obtained using Fowkes' equation by measuring contact angles of a series of pure surfactants of different HLB values on the fruit surface and by comparing with a reference paraffin surface of 25.5 dynes/cm. Results indicated that surface energies were similar between both types of fruits, while there were differences between maturity stages for tomato fruits. Surface energy in all cases was lower than 30 dynes/cm, indicating the hydrophobic nature of the epicuticular surface of the fruits tested.