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The concentration of phenolic and volatile compounds in virgin olive oil (VOO) is closely related to the different operative conditions applied to the mechanical extraction process of the olive oil. However, the great qualitative and quantitative variability of these compounds indicates an important role played by genetic and agronomic aspects. A heat exchanger was placed in front of a traditional, covered malaxer to study the impact of flash thermal conditioning (FTC) of olive paste on the quality of VOO, which is highly influenced by phenolic release and aroma generation. The VOO flash thermal conditioning of five major Italian cultivars showed a higher concentration of phenols (range of increase percentage, 9.9-37.3%) compared to the control trials, whereas the FTC treatment featured a differentiated impact on the volatile fractions, associated with the genetic origins of the olives.

Response surface modeling (RSM) was used to optimize temperature and oxygen concentration during malaxation for obtaining high quality extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs). With this aim, those chemical variables closely related to EVOO quality, such as the phenolic and the volatile compounds, have been previously analyzed and selected. It is widely known that the presence of these substances in EVOOs is highly dependent on genetic, agronomic, and technological aspects. Based on these data, the two parameters were optimized during malaxation of olive pastes of four important Italian cultivars using some phenols and volatile compounds as markers; the optimal temperatures and oxygen levels, obtained by RSM, were as follows for each cultivar: 33.5 °C and 54 kPa of oxygen (Peranzana), 32 °C and 21.3 kPa (Ogliarola), 25 °C and 21.3 kPa (Coratina), and 33 °C and 21.3 kPa (Itrana). These results indicate the necessity to optimize these malaxing parameters for other olive cultivars.

The quality of virgin olive oil (VOO) is strictly related to the concentrations of phenolic and volatile compounds, which are strongly affected by the operative conditions of the VOO mechanical extraction process. The aim of this work is to study the impact of a new technology such as flash thermal conditioning (FTC) on olive paste structural modification and on VOO quality. The evaluation of olive paste structure modification by cryo-scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) showed that the application of FTC after crushing produces significant differences in terms of the breaking of the parenchyma cells and aggregation of oil droplets in comparison to the crushed pastes. The virgin olive oil flash thermal conditioning (VOO-FTC) featured a higher concentration of volatile compounds compared to that in the control, particularly of all saturated and unsaturated aldehydes and esters, whereas the phenolic concentration was higher in VOO obtained from the traditional process (VOO-C).

The isolation and identification of a phytocomplex from olive mill waste waters (OMWW) was achieved. The isolated phytocomplex is made up of the following three phenolic compounds: hydroxytyrosol (3,4-DHPEA), tyrosol (p-HPEA) and the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid, linked with (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA). The purification of this phytocomplex was reached by partial dehydration of the OMWW, followed by liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate and middle pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC) on a Sephadex LH-20 column. The phytocomplex accounted for 6% of the total phenolic content of the OMWW. The phytocomplex and individual compounds were tested for antioxidant capacity by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) method. The ORAC phytocomplex produced 10,000 ORAC units/g dry weight, whereas the cellular antioxidant activity, measured by the cellular antioxidant activity in red blood cell (CAA-RBC) method, demonstrated that the phytocomplex and all of the components are able to permeate the cell membrane thus exhibiting antioxidant activity inside the red blood cells. Our phytocomplex could be employed in the formulation of fortified foods and nutraceuticals, with the goal to obtain substantial health protective effects due to the suitable combination of the component molecules.

The sensory and health properties of virgin olive oil (VOO) are highly related to its volatile and phenolic composition. Oxygen control in the pastes during malaxation may be a new technological parameter to regulate enzymatic activities, such as polyphenoloxidase, peroxidase, and lipoxygenase, which affect the phenolic and volatile composition of VOO. In this work, we monitored CO2 and O2 concentrations during industrial-scale olive paste malaxation with various initial O2 concentrations within the malaxer headspace. Results show that the O2 concentration in the malaxer headspace did not affect CO2 production during processing, whereas a strong influence was observed on the changes of the phenolic composition of olive pastes and VOOs, with high correlation coefficient for the total phenols (R = 0.94), especially for oleuropein and demethyloleuropein derivatives (R = 0.81). In contrast, aroma production during malaxation was minimally affected by the O2 concentration in the malaxer headspace.

Olive fruits contain high concentrations of phenols that include phenolic acids, phenolic alcohols, flavonoids, and secoiridoids. The final concentration of phenols is strongly affected by brine conditions. The factors involved in modification by brine are still partially unknown and can include hydrolysis of secoiridoid glucosides and the release of hydrolyzed products. In this study olives from various Italian cultivars were processed by natural fermentation (e.g., without a preliminary treatment of olives with NaOH) using a selected Lactobacillus strain. Processed olives are characterized by a low phenolic concentration of phenols, consisting mainly of phenyl alcohols, verbascoside, and the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethylelenolic acid linked to (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA), whereas a high level of phenols occurs in olive brine from all the cultivars studied. Olives of the Coratina cultivar, control and with fermentation by Lactobacillus pentosus 1MO, were analyzed in a frozen hydrated state by cryo scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis, on both surface and transversal freeze-fracture planes. Structural modifications, found in olives after fermentation, may explain the phenol release in brine.

Olive stoning during the virgin olive oil (VOO) mechanical extraction process was studied to show the effect on the phenolic and volatile composition of the oil. To study the impact of the constitutive parts of the fruit in the composition of olive pastes during processing, the phenolic compounds and several enzymatic activities such as polyphenoloxidase (PPO), peroxidase (POD), and lipoxygenase (LPO) of the olive pulp, stone, and seed were also studied. The olive pulp showed large amounts of oleuropein, demethyloleuropein, and lignans, while the contribution of the stone and the seed in the overall phenolic composition of the fruit was very low. The occurrence of crushed stone in the pastes, during malaxation, increased the peroxidase activity in the pastes, reducing the phenolic concentration in VOO and, at the same time, modifying the composition of volatile compounds produced by the lipoxygenase pathway. The oil obtained from stoned olive pastes contained higher amounts of secoiridoid derivatives such as the dialdehydic forms of elenolic acid linked to (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol and (p-hydroxyphenyl)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA and p-HPEA-EDA, respectively) and the isomer of the oleuropein aglycon (3,4-DHPEA-EA) and, at the same time, did not show significant variations of lignans. The stoning process modified the volatile profile of VOO by increasing the C6 unsaturated aldehydes that are strictly related to the cut-grass sensory notes of the oil.

Field-grown olive trees (Olea europaea L. cv. Leccino) were used over two growing seasons to determine the effect of deficit irrigation regimes on virgin olive oil (VOO) quality. Drip irrigation was managed to maintain a predawn leaf water potential (PLWP): (a) higher than -1.1 MPa (full irrigation: FI); (b) between -1.0 and -3.3 MPa (deficit irrigation: DI); (c) higher than -4.2 MPa (severe deficit irrigation: SI). The fruit yield and oil yield of DI trees were over 90% of those of FI treatments in both years, respectively, whereas yields of SI trees ranged from 61 to 76%. The irrigation regime had minor effects on the free acidity, peroxide value, and fatty acid composition of VOO. The concentrations of phenols and o-diphenols in VOO were negatively correlated with PLWP. The concentrations of the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid linked to (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA), the isomer of the oleuropein aglycon (3,4-DHPEA-EA), and the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid linked to (p-hydroxyphenyl)ethanol (p-HPEA-EDA) were lower in FI than in SI treatments. The concentrations of lignans (+)-1-acetoxipinoresinol and (+)-1-pinoresinol were unaffected by the irrigation regime. The tree water status had a marked effect on the concentration of volatile compounds, such as the C(6)-saturated and unsaturated aldehydes, alcohols, and esters.

Fifty lactobacilli isolated from black table olive brines were evaluated for their salt tolerance, resistance to oleuropein and verbascoside, and ability to grow in modified filter-sterilized brines. A strain of Lactobacillus pentosus was selected and used as a starter to ferment, in pilot plant, black olives (Itrana and Leccino cv.) in brines modified for pH, carbohydrate, and growth factor concentrations, at 28 degrees C. The temperature-controlled fermentation of Leccino cv. olives resulted in obtaining ready-to-eat, high-quality table olives in a reduced-time process. HPLC analysis of phenolic compounds from fermented olives showed a decrease of oleuropein, a glucoside secoiridoid responsible for the bitter taste of olive drupes, and an increase of the hydroxytyrosol concentration. The selected strain of L. pentosus (1MO) allowed the reduction of the debittering phase period to 8 days.

Hydrophilic phenols are the most abundant natural antioxidants of virgin olive oil (VOO), in which tocopherols and carotenes are also present. The prevalent classes of hydrophilic phenols found in VOO are phenyl alcohols, phenolic acids, secoiridoids such as the dialdehydic form of decarboxymethyl elenolic acid linked to (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)ethanol or (p-hydroxypheny1)ethanol (3,4-DHPEA-EDA or p-HPEA-EDA) and an isomer of the oleuropein aglycon (3,4-DHPEA-EA), lignans such as (+)-1-acetoxypinoresinol and (+)-pinoresinol, and flavonoids. A new method for the analysis of VOO hydrophilic phenols by direct injection in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with the use of a fluorescence detector (FLD) has been proposed and compared with the traditional liquid-liquid extraction technique followed by the HPLC analysis utilizing a diode array detector (DAD) and a FLD. Results show that the most important classes of phenolic compounds occurring in VOO can be evaluated using HPLC direct injection. The efficiency of the new method, as compared to the liquid-liquid extraction, was higher to quantify phenyl alcohols, lignans, and 3,4-DHPEA-EA and lower for the evaluation of 3,4-DHPEA-EDA and p-HPEA-EDA.