The sensory profile of extravirgin biodestoned olive oils in relationship to their concentration of volatiles, oleuropein and ligstroside aglycons, lignans, flavonoids and phenol acids

[P1.1.144] In the last few years much attention has been paid to destoned extravirgin olive oils because of their high levels of functional and bioactive components. Their nutraceutical properties appear to be still marked when they come from oils produced by organic olive-growing technique (1-2). These biodestoned oils are believed to be effective adjuvants to preventing the oxidative stress, the metabolic syndrome, the early ageing, some cancer types and other current human pathologies (3-4). In this work we report some data (Leccino variety) concerning the composition of destoned oils are mainly those relating to the volatile and phenol fractions of biodestoned extravirgin olive oils. These latter coming from either Nocellara del Belice cultivar or from an olive blend including the drupe varieties Cerasola 40 %, Cellina di Nardò 12%, Ogliarola Salentina 12%, Ogliarola Barese 12%, Coratina 12% and Fasola 12%, which have been collected in the crop years 2005-2006-2007. Other phytomolecules related with the sensory features of the oils such as chlorophylls, pheophytins, carotenes and xanthophylls as well as the CIE chromatic parameters (hue, chroma and brightness), have been determinate. HRGC, HPLC, GC-MS, spectroscopic and other analytical method were used. Medians of the main sensorial descriptors have been assessed by the panel test method described in the Reg CEE 2568/91 as updated by Regs CE 769/02, 702/07 and 640/08. The sensory profile of analyzed oils has been visualized by radars graphs (5-7). The natural, harmonic biodestoned oils were excellent produces having in comparison to the homologous reference oils more marked and delicate aroma, flavor, fragrance and fruitiness. Their bitter, pungent and astringent attributes were more equilibrated. Their contents of lipochromes were lower since the destoner machine exerted less effective actions (with respect to metal crusher) on the olive hypoderm tissue, where these chloroplast pigments are essentially located. But their contents of pleasant volatiles (Tab. 1), oleuropein and ligstroside aglycons, lignans, flavonoids, and phenol acids (Tab. 2), were higher. By processing analytical dataset by chemometrics (PCA, DA, HCA and others), with suitable statistical software packages, the biodestoned oil was clearly discriminated from the reference oil. This new product having high-added value and price can represent an actual factor to enhance the olive growing income.