Composition and oxidative stabilities of oils extracted from hybrid hazelnuts grown in Nebraska,USA

Recently, hybrid hazelnuts have emerged as a potential oilseed crop in Nebraska for food and value‐added industrial applications. As with all hazelnuts, Nebraska hybrid hazelnuts were characterised by the high oil content with the average oil content of 54.3%. Oleic acid was the predominant fatty acid. Oleic acid and linoleic acid accounted for more than 90% of the total fatty acid composition, whereas small quantities of palmitoleic and linolenic acids were found. Four major tocopherols (α‐, β‐, γ‐ and δ‐tocopherols) were identified with α‐tocopherol as the most dominant isomer. The average total tocopherol content was 235.4 mg kg^?1 oil with α‐tocopherol constituting approximately 97.5% of the total tocopherols. β‐sitosterol was the most abundant sterol of the three identified sterols representing, on average, 93.1% of total sterols, followed by campesterol and stigmasterol. The oil oxidative stability was affected by the presence of high levels of natural antioxidants and monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). Genotype 16–177 was superior to the other genotypes, when combining high levels of MUFA, tocopherols and phytosterols, and high oxidative stability.