Rating Systems for Strawberries

Abstract

From ancient times fruit varieties have been compared with each other by growers, consumers, and writers. Gradually comparisons became more objective, and descriptive terms such as poor, fair, very good, and excellent, or small, medium, and large, came into use with more or less definite concepts in mind. Nursery catalogues and popular descriptions commonly use such terms. As science developed, still more accurate measures were needed. Relatively accurate measurements often used now are number of fruits per pound or bushel, weight of individual fruits, color names related to wave lengths of light, puncture pressure of epidermis and flesh as a measure of firmness, etc. For physical characters such measurements can often be made, but for some qualitative characters other measures are necessary. In order to make comparisons as useful and as simple as possible, a numerical rating system has evolved with 1 as poorest and 10 as best (see "A rating system for the evaluation of horticultural material", Morrow, Darrow, and Rigney, Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 53:276. 1949). Where rapidity is necessary, all qualities may be so rated. Where one or more qualities, such as size or weight, are important enough to require a more or less exact figure, actual weights or sizes of samples may be made, and such physical measurements may be integrated into the tables or be translated into the numerical system for use in tables.