Md. Salvador et al., Cornicabra virgin olive oil: a study of five crop seasons. Composition, quality and oxidative stability, FOOD CHEM, 74(3), 2001, pp. 267-274
The chemical composition of Cornicabra virgin olive oils (n = 181) from fiv
e successive crop seasons (from 1994/95 to 1998/99) and its relationship wi
th quality and oxidative stability is examined. The main characteristics of
Cornicabra olive oils were: a high oleic acid (80.4 +/- 1.0%, as mean and
standard deviation) and low linoleic acid content (4.5 +/- 0.6%); high camp
esterol level (4.2 +/- 0.2%), exceeding the EU Regulation upper limit of 4%
; large total phenol content (ranging from 19 to 380 mg/kg as caffeic acid
for the commercial oils, and from 180 to 614 mg/kg for the Abencor oils), a
nd oxidative stability ranging from 9 to 143 h, by Rancimat, for the commer
cial oils and from 18 to 193 h for the Abencor oils. Sensory evaluation sho
wed that the total score of 35% of commercial Cornicabra olive oil was lowe
r than the limit of 6.5 established for the 'extra-virgin' category, wherea
s the minimum score observed for Abencor oils was 6.8. This means that, alt
hough the majority of the chemical parameters fell within the limits establ
ished for the maximum olive oil category, with a few exceptions, significan
tly more of these olive oils fail the sensory minimum requirements for the
highest category. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.