De-Greening (Gassing)
- By law, oranges must be mature when harvested in the United States but may exhibit yellow-green skins
- Three levels of maturity must be met before harvesting
- Juice content
- Brix percentage (sugars)
- Citric acid levels
- Three levels of maturity must be met before harvesting
- When necessary, ethylene gas is applied to oranges to change the rind color from yellow or green to orange
- The process of applying ethylene gas is known as de-greening, gassing, or curing
- Ethylene gas only helps with the outside skin color, it does not change any other characteristics of the orange
- The length of the de-greening process depends on skin color upon harvest
- Currently California Navel oranges are being de-greened 72 to 96 hours
Please contact your Markon customer service representative for more information.
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