Effects of rind removal on physicochemical quality characteristics of fresh‐cut watermelon [Citrullus lanatus (Thunb) Matsum & Nakai] during cold storage

The impact of removing the rind from fresh‐cut watermelon slices was assessed on the quality of the product during storage at 4 °C for 9 days. Flesh lycopene declined from 55.4 to 47.9 mg kg^?1 f.w. and colour lightness (L*) increased from 43.2 to 45.8 after 2 days of storage. Initial heart and placental flesh firmness increased from 7.3 and 9.8 N, respectively, to 9.5 and 12.8 N after 9 days, but were unaffected by rind processing. Electrolyte leakage from placental tissue was unaffected by storage and rind. Rind presence limited juice run‐off by 47.2% and maintained mean total soluble sugar concentration in the slices at 86.0 mg mL^?1 as opposed to 76.8 mg mL^?1 in rind‐less slices. Change in the quality was most pronounced between 0 and 2 day of storage. Removing the rind accelerated senescence and off‐flavour production, while the presence of rind improved the overall storage stability of fresh‐cut watermelon slices.