Due to its direct effect on metabolic activity, temperature is the most important factor in maintaining the quality of the harvested product. To prolong the life of our product we need to protect it from high temperature because the rate of respiration and other metabolic events directly depends on the ambient temperature 

However, it is possible to slow down breathing by lowering the temperature of our product and thus prolong its life. For this purpose, after the harvest, we need to cool our product as soon as possible and keep it in a cold environment. The sooner we cool our product, the longer its life span will be.