Effect of olive ripeness on chemical properties and phenolic composition of chétoui virgin olive oil

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present work was to investigate the influence of fruit ripening on oil quality in an attempt to establish an optimum harvesting time for Chétoui olives, the second main olive variety cultivated in Tunisia. RESULTS: Our results showed that many analytical parameters, i.e., peroxide value, UV absorbance at 232 and 270 nm, chlorophyll pigments, carotenoids and oleic acid contents decreased during ripening, whilst oil content and linolenic acid increased. Free acidity remained practically stable with a very slight rise at the highest maturity index. The trend of oxidative stability, total phenols and o‐diphenols, showed an increase at the early stages followed by a reduction at more advanced stages of maturity. The major phenolic compounds, such as hydroxytyrosol, ligstroside aglycon, elenolic acid, acetoxy‐pinoresinol and oleuropein aglycon, seemed to have the same behaviour. In the case of tyrosol, a strong decrease was observed directly related with the ripening progress. CONLUSION: On the basis of the evolution of the analytical parameters studied, the best stage of Chétoui olive fruits for oil processing seems to be at ripeness index higher than 2.0 and lower than 3.0. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry