Value-Adding to the thinned “Waste” fruits of pomegranates: Authentic spoon sweet production

Pomegranate trees tend to produce lots of flowers and if all conditions are adequate, most of the flowers set fruit. However, excessive numbers of fruits decrease the quality of present season's fruit and also decrease the tree vigor and cause a decline in the next season's yield. Furthermore, fruit thinning emerges as a beneficial way of increasing quality. Due to the possibility of fruit drop, fruit thinning is suggested to be performed after fruit set and the thinned fruits are becoming “waste” which is not an economical and environmental perspective. Therefore, present research aimed to study the possibility of using thinned fruits to produce spoon sweets, which is a delightful tradition in Cyprus. Results of present study suggested that using thinned fruits for spoon sweet production is possible and it adds value to the “waste” fruits and help to improve the size and quality of fruits left on the tree.