| Abstract: | An experimental investigation was carried out to evaluate the quality of virgin olive oils obtained when either a hammer‐crusher or a disk‐crusher were used for the olive paste preparation; the effect of the temperature rise caused by rapid olive crushing was also assessed. Oxidative degradation in the oils obtained from hammer‐crushed olives was significantly higher than in those obtained from disk‐crushed olives as shown by the levels of oxidised triacylglycerols and the results of the oven test. A significant inverse correlation (p <0.001) was found between the Rancimat induction time values and the amounts of oxidised triacylglycerols as determined by the high‐performance size exclusion chromatography analysis of polar compounds. These findings suggested that polar compound analyses, just as routine analyses, may be used as a suitable analytical tool to effectively evaluate the quality of virgin olive oils. |
