IMPROVEMENT OF THE 'ARBEQUINA' OLIVE OIL QUALITY FROM CENTRAL VALLEY OF CATAMARCA, ARGENTINA, BY PREPARATION OF BLENDS WITH OLIVE OILS VARIETALS
Arbequina, which is a predominant olive cultivar in the Central Valley of Catamarca, possesses survival, rusticity and good productivity features.
However, its oil characteristics (different fatty acid composition according to the international rules required and low stability) are not optimum and may cause problems for marketing as varietal oil.
The objective of this work was to improve the quality of Arbequina olive oil (crop year 2007/08) by blending it with other olive varietal oils.
Different oil blends of Arbequina have also been prepared from three productive sites of the Central Valley in proportions of 25 and 50% whith Coratina and Manzanilla común. Regulated oil quality parameters (acidity, peroxide number, UV absorption indexes, fatty acid composition) were evaluated following IOC methodologies.
Commercial quality parameters (total phenol content and oxidative stability - Rancimat) were also determined.
Blends showing fatty acid compositions as required by IOC rules, with higher contents of oleic acid (55.8 to 62.7%), were statistically different (p<0.05) between them, and also different in accordance to the Arbequina oils taken from the different sites already described.
Blends had lower content of palmitic acid (16.9 to 19.4%), palmitoleic acid (2.3 to 3.4%) and linoleic acid (12.8 to 18.4%). A higher oleic/linoleic ratio was obtained compared to Arbequina oils without supplementing, with higher values in blends with Manzanilla común (37.5 and 104.2% for proportions of 25 and 50%, respectively) than in Coratina due to lower content of linoleic acid in the first oil varietal.
These increases had a positive impact on oxidative stability.
Regression equations between individual fatty acids and blend percentages showed very good fits (R2 between 0.9657 and 0.968) and indicating that proportions of 21.2% of Coratina oil and 18.6% of Manzanilla común oil are necessary to reach acidic profiles as required by IOC regulations.
Molina, M.S., Matías , A.C. and Maldonado, M. (2014). IMPROVEMENT OF THE 'ARBEQUINA' OLIVE OIL QUALITY FROM CENTRAL VALLEY OF CATAMARCA, ARGENTINA, BY PREPARATION OF BLENDS WITH OLIVE OILS VARIETALS . Acta Hortic. 1057, 685-692
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.87
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.87
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.87
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2014.1057.87
olive oil, blends, stability, phenols, oleic acid
English