Impact of different advanced ripening stages on berry texture properties of ‘Red Globe’ and ‘Crimson Seedless’ table grape cultivars (Vitis vinifera L.)

• Riper berries were associated with higher values of the skin thickness.
• Hardness and gumminess decreased during ripening and were affected by the berry size.
• Berry cohesiveness increased independently from the berry size during the ripening process.
• Berry cohesiveness can be proposed as a ripeness indicator for table grapes.
• Low peduncle detachment resistance in riper berries negatively affects the grape quality.

The impact of different ripening stages on berry texture properties of sorted ‘Red Globe’ and ‘Crimson Seedless’ table grapes was evaluated. Density sorting at different harvest dates was utilised to obtain homogeneous samples for each ripening stage. At the same ripening stage, ‘Red Globe’ berries were more firm, cohesive, springy, chewy and resilient but less hard and gummy than ‘Crimson Seedless’. Particularly for cv. Red Globe, the choice of the ripening stage at harvest could be a determinant for the berry quality because riper berries were associated with higher skin thickness values (+25%). The berry hardness and gumminess of ‘Crimson Seedless’ decreased significantly during ripening (−50%), and these parameters were most influenced by the berry size. Conversely, berry cohesiveness can be used as a ripeness predictor of table grapes because the changes during the ripening process were independent of berry size. The peduncle detachment resistance of the berry in the Crimson Seedless grapes decreased to values lower than 3.4 N, negatively affecting the quality attributes of the berry.