MATURITY INDICES FOR GREEN OLIVES DESTINED TO BE PROCESSED AS ‘SPANISH-STYLE’ OLIVES

Fruit growth of olive cv Konservolia was followed all through the growing season until colour development.
Fruit growth continued in late October when the crop was low, but ceased by the end of August during a high yield year.
The quality of the olive fruit of ‘Konservolia’ and ‘Chondrolia Chalkidikis’ was measured from before the commencement of commercial harvest until the end of it.
Quality parameters evaluated, which could be used as subjective maturity indices for these olives, were skin colour, flesh firmness, reducing sugars and taste quality after processing.
Skin colour did not change during maturation, but the commercial harvest of olives for ‘Spanish-style’ processing ceased when the skin colour changed from green to straw, a change easily measured with the Minolta chromameter.
Flesh firmness and reducing sugar content of fresh green olives of both cultivars decreased during maturation.
When flesh firmness was below 5N and reducing sugar content below 2%, then commercial harvest ceased.
The only maturity index which could be used for the initiation of commercial harvest was found to be fruit size.
The quality of processed olives of each sampling was also followed.
The taste panel evaluation showed that ‘Konservolia’ processed olives were of satisfactory quality before, during and after the commercial harvest, while the objective measurements depicted quality reduction after the end of commercial harvest. ‘Chondrolia Chalkidikis’ processed olives were of acceptable quality only until the middle of commercial harvest.

III International Symposium on Olive Growing

G.D. Nanos, T. Thomai, E.M. Sfakiotakis, N. Fitsios

Olea europea, flesh firmness, skin colour, reducing sugars

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.474.107