According to USDA statistics, annual per capita consumption is 4.85 pounds of fresh and frozen strawberries. The strawberry fruit consists of many enlarged ovaries massed together on a single receptacle. The seeds are achenes, or one-seeded fruitlets. The number of developed seeds and their distribution over the berry surface determine the size, weight, and shape of the fruit. There's an average of 200 seeds in every strawberry.
Fruit emits an increasing amount of aromatic compounds as it gets riper.
The sniffer captures and senses these volatile compounds. The sniffer requires less than one second to respond, and can be used for sorting, or during quality control sampling. Test strawberries were visually classified into six distinct ripeness classes and measured for color, soluble solids, titratable acidity, pH, firmness, and volatile compounds. Results using the electronic sniffer compared favorably with those done the old-fashioned way. Strawberry Commission Strawberries are relatively easy to grow in a small space.