Question
I would first like to note that your web site is a great help, keep up the great work.
I do have a question regarding brix levels on grape-tomatoes. We have done some testing here at our facility regarding brix testing for grape tomatoes. The question that we have is, does the brix level change if the grape tomatoes are stored at different temperatures? We found that they do not. We ran the test of storing some at 52 degrees and stored another amount at 60 degrees. The Brix levels did not change on either one. Could you provide us your opinion/test that you have done in this area and let me know your findings? (M.L.)
Answer
Glad to know that you find the website useful to your business.
In that paper there are both analyses of sugars and % soluble solids. Yes, it is true that you can expect little change in soluble solids (see Figure 1 in the above-mentioned paper), but sugars are only a part of the soluble solids measurement (acids, soluble pectins, etc. contribute to the reading) and if we measure sugar directly we do see a decrease with storage (see Table3 for example). In the case of grape tomatoes, % titratable acid is high (and this is a substantial contributor to the % soluble solids reading).
–Marita Cantwell