What Are Climacteric Fruits?

The term climacteric stands for varieties that continue to ripen after harvest. For this, however, the fruit on the tree or bush must first have reached a certain minimum ripeness or ripeness for picking. The varieties that ripen after the harvest include apples, apricots, avocados, bananas, pears, figs, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, plums, and tomatoes.

On the other hand, pineapples, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, cherries, lychees, grapes, and citrus fruits are not climacteric fruits. You should therefore not buy these fruits when they are unripe. Strawberries or raspberries, for example, continue to color slightly after harvesting. However, the sugar content within the fruit remains constant after harvest.

In the case of climacteric varieties, starch stored within the fruit is still converted into fructose by metabolic processes even after the harvest. With apples or tomatoes, for example, this creates the balanced sugar-acid ratio that is largely responsible for the taste of the fruit.

The natural plant hormone ethylene is important for the post-ripening process of the climacteric varieties. Ethylene is released from the fruit during ripening or when the fruit is injured. The plant hormone also affects surrounding fruits. Accordingly, a ripening apple promotes the ripening of other apples.

However, this process also works across species boundaries. The ripening process of bananas, avocados, or kiwis can be accelerated by placing them next to a few ripe apples. Be careful if you store climacteric fruit next to fruit that is already very ripe: it will spoil very quickly.