Captive fatty acids of fresh olive oils?

Olive oil is mainly made up of triglycerides. It is well known that olive oil contains free fatty acids, the proportion of which is variable, depending on the extent of the hydrolysis of triglycerides. Besides, globular structures have been reported in cloudy virgin olive oils. The pseudo-walls of these globules would be constituted by amphiphilic molecules, while fatty acids are amphiphilic. This brief review aims to inform on the importance of the possible interaction of 'free' fatty acids of veiled virgin olive oils, as structural units in the pseudo-wall of the colloidal globules, already reported. The binding of fatty acids to the colloidal globules can mean they are not free in the olive oil. They could be 'captive' in said pseudo-walls, thus exerting less influence on the perception of acidity by the consumer or taster of the olive oils. The official method of analysis of olive oil acidity cannot detect this effect. This may suppose that functional acidity is lower than the acidity values determined by chemical analysis in cloudy virgin olive oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]