ABSTRACT
Enzymes are in general present naturally in fruits and vegetables. There are many factors that affect the activity of these enzymes. Knowing the effect of each factor will be helpful in controlling the chemical reactions. Due to the low availability of enzymes that occur naturally, there is a need to produce larger amounts at the industrial level. These industrially produced enzymes have varied applications in the processing of fruits and vegetables. Also enzymes are not always beneficial, because they also cause some deleterious effects like causing undesirable color, flavor, and texture changes in the fruits and vegetables. One of the major problems caused is enzymatic browning. Also there are techniques available to inactivate the action of these browning causing enzymes. Therefore, this chapter explores the information available on important properties of enzymes in fruits and vegetables technology, enzyme activity, various factors affecting the enzyme activity, available sources of enzymes, their effects in fruits and vegetables, their applications in the processing of fruits and vegetables, their deleterious effects on the quality attributes of fruits and vegetables, different techniques to inactivate these enzymes and finally their applications.
