Olive fruit

Olive fruit and its oil are in great demand due to its nutritional value, which can be influenced by the pre-and post-harvest factors. The pre-and post-harvest factors are discussed in this article in an effort to recognize as being and investigate the ultimate effect of these factors on the olive fruit and its oil composition. Genetic, agronomic and environmental factors influence olive fruits and olive oil composition. The olive cultivar influences fruit weight, olive oil content, fatty acids, peroxide value, esters, volatile compounds and fatty alcohol content. Chlorophyll content, carotenoids, flavor and volatile compounds vary depending upon geographical area of origin. Environmental conditions have an effect on enzymes, oil composition, fatty acids, microbial activity, esters, flowering, growth and development, ripening rate, insect activity and susceptibility or resistance to diseases. Tree age has an impact on phenol content of olive oil. The boron, nitrogen, potassium, salinity and zinc treatments have an influence on the olive fruit and its oil composition. In addition, the ripening degree, harvesting time has enforcement on olive oil content. Leaf removal and washing of the fruit promote the purity of the olive oil for both chemical and sensorial aspects. A not prolonged fruit crushing together with a not prolonged paste malaxation at a temperature below 27 C increase the sensory and physicochemical qualities of olive oil. Inappropriate oil extraction promotes the off-flavors in the olive oil. Dark storage helps to retain the chemical and sensorial olive oil quality. The oil quality degrades toward the inside of cooking temperature.

Table olives, the number one consumed fermented food in Europe, are widely consumed as
they contain many valuable ingredients for health. It is also a food which may be the subject of adulteration, as many different olive varieties with different geographical origin, exist all over the word.
In the present study, the image analysis of stones of six main Greek protected designation of origin
(PDO) table olive varieties was performed for the control of their authentication and discrimination,
with cv. Prasines Chalkidikis, cv. Kalamata Olive, cv. Konservolia Stylidas, cv. Konservolia Amfissis,
cv. Throuba Thassos and cv. Throuba Chios being the studied olive varieties. Orthogonal partial least
square discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was used for discrimination and classification of the six
Greek table olive varieties. With a 98.33% of varietal discrimination, the OPLS-DA model proved to
be an efficient tool to authentify table olive varieties from their morphological characteristics.