Virgin Olive Oil Volatile Compounds from Lipoxygenase Pathway and Characterization of Some Italian Cultivars

Abstract

Fruits from seven different varieties of Olea europaea L., grown in the same environmental conditions, were harvested in two succeeding years at the same ripening degree and immediately processed. The oils obtained were submitted to gas chromatographic determination of the volatile compounds extracted by dynamic headspace technique. The results demonstrated that the accumulation of the different metabolites in the oils obtained from the various cultivars were strictly connected with the varietal parameter because of the enzyme differences genetically determined. This feature made possible the differentiation of the examined cultivars on the basis of the percent of each metabolite from the enzymatic transformation of 13-hydroperoxides of linolenic acid. Oils from Picual and Koroneiki varieties cultivated in Spain and Greece, respectively, showed contents of volatiles very similar to those detected in the oils of the same varieties cultivated in Italy, proving that they were not significantly influenced by the environmental conditions.

Comparative Study of Oil Quality and Aroma Profiles from Tunisian Olive Cultivars Growing in Saharian Oasis Using Chemometric Analysis

“…The characteristic and the unique flavor of virgin olive oil, in particular, its green and fruity attributes depend on many volatile compounds 38 . Concentration and odor threshold of volatile compounds, whether major or minor, are crucial to virgin olive oil quality.…”

“…Indeed, several researches 28,38 proved that E -2-hexenal is the most abundant volatile compound which is responsible for almond and green sensory notes and offered an attribute positive to Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Nevertheless, all samples in this study presented a contrary behavior.…”

The effect of fly attack (<i>Bactrocera oleae</i>) on the quality and phenolic content of <i>Chemlal</i> olive oil

“…Bitterness in virgin olive oil has been linked generally to the total phenol content (Angerosa et al, 2000;Beltran et al, 2005). According to Morello et al, (2006), the total phenol cotent better described the bitterness index than 3,4 DHPEA-EDA and HPEA-EDA, probably due to the high diversity of phenolic compounds implied in the biterness of virgin olive oil.…”

Volatile and Non-Volatile Compounds of Single Cultivar Virgin Olive Oils Produced in Italy and Tunisia with Regard to Different Extraction Systems and Storage Conditions

“…It is well known that volatile and non-volatile components of products of plant origin are dependent on genetic, agronomic and environmental factors. There are few reports (Angerosa et al, 1996(Angerosa et al, , 1998a(Angerosa et al, , 1998b(Angerosa et al, , 1999Morales et al, 1995;Solinas et al, 1998) on the evaluation of the relationships between the aroma components of virgin olive oil with the metabolic pathways and varietal factors. Olive ripening process and, to some extent, the fruit growing environment, affect also the composition of the volatile compounds of the oil (Aparicio & Morales, 1998;De Nino et al, 2000;Guth & Grosh, 1993;Montedoro & Garofalo, 1984;Morales et al, 1996).…”