BACKGROUND: The aim of the present work was to evaluate the phytochemical profile and the antioxidant activity of strawberry fruit (cv. Camarosa) upon postharvest ripening at room temperature (20 °C) and to correlate them with qualitative attributes.

RESULTS: ‘Camarosa’ fruit retained an appreciable postharvest performance for up to 1 day shelf life; thereafter substantial quality deterioration was observed. An increased phenolic content, mainly attributed to hydroxycinnamic acids, flavonols and anthocyanins, was monitored after 3 days maintenance at 20 °C. The chromatographic fingerprint of athocyanins showed that pelargonidin‐3‐glucoside was the major anthocyanin, which increased with the increase of shelf life period, while cyanidin‐3‐glucoside and pelargonidin‐3‐rutinoside were found at lower concentrations. The potent radical scavenging activity, evaluated with four in vitro assays, showed a higher antioxidant capacity after 3 and 1 days of shelf life. In addition, the antioxidant effect of strawberry fruit extracts on lipid substrates and on an emulsion system showed a significant inhibition in the formation of conjugated diene hyperoxides. Interestingly, no direct correlation between the phytochemical profile and the quality attributes exist.

CONCLUSION: ‘Camarosa’ fruit had acceptable quality attributes for fresh consumption and at the same time a high phytochemical content up to 1 day shelf life. The over‐ripe fruit continued to be an excellent reservoir of natural antioxidants, pointing to its potential use as food antioxidant and nutritional supplement. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry