Lipochromes, vitamins, aromas and other components of virgin olive oil areaffected by processing technology

A stone mill-integral decanter (SD) olive processing line was compared with a traditional stone mill-press (SP) line. a discontinuous method, that, if properly used, yields high-quality virgin olive oils. With "difficult oliv es" (not easy to process), the SD line yielded oils characterised by: (1) h igher contents of pleasant volatiles, tocopherols, beta -carotene, xanthoph ylls, chlorophylls, pheophytins and waxes; (2) higher values of the 1,2-dig lycerides/1,3-diglycerides ratio, integral colour index and chroma; (3) low er contents of phenols, secoiridoids, unpleasant volatiles, aliphatic alcoh ols, triterpene alcohols and sterols, and (4) lower values of turbidity, br ightness and oxidative stability. With "non-difficult olives" (easy to proc ess), whose paste needed to be fluidised with lukewarm water, the SD line y ielded oils showing higher contents of pleasant volatiles and tocopherols, lower contents of unpleasant volatiles and comparable contents of phenols a nd lipochromes. The content of organophosphorus pesticide residues did not depend on the processing method. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.