Fruit like papaya might take time to ripen, and when harvested early, doing superficial cuts along the fruit helps it go faster. Like wise wrapping some fruit in newspaper like avocado can help them ripen faster. How does this happen? Where does the fruit get its nutrients after cut?
In: Biology
The fruit itself is a big lump of nutrients. Once it’s grown enough the ripening process is just taking the nutrients already in the fruit and converting them to sugars.
Also it’s important to note that not all fruit can ripen off the tree, some use different processes and need to be attached until they are fully ripened.
Ethylene, which is a gas/ chemical emitted from the fruit itself. Wrapping the fruit or putting it in a paper bag concentrates ethylene, speeding up ripening.
Fruits are a big storage container of sugars and nutrients and water. This is intended to attract herbivores to eat them because fruits are much more desirable food source compared to leaves which are lower in sugar and water, but they can dip into this store of sugars and nutrients and water to keep performing basic functions, including ripening in some, but not all, cases.
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