Blending Local olive oils with Arbequina or Picual oils produces high quality, distinctive EVOOs

Abstract

Arbequina and Picual are the most common olive fruit varieties cultivated in Galicia (NW Spain). However, in recent years, the interest of oil producers in autochthonous Local olive fruits has increased substantially since its oil has differentiated and peculiar characteristics, especially with respect to the aromatic and phenolic composition. The blending of Local oil (in low percentages) with Arbequina or Picual oils is assessed in this study. Quality‐related indices, fatty acid composition, as well as minor compounds, such as volatiles and phenolics, were determined for both monovarietal and blending oils. Results obtained showed that the blending has the advantage of producing high quality virgin olive oil with predictable phenolic and aromatic profiles.Practical application: The development of high quality and distinctive extra virgin olive oils in NW Spain based on blends with a minor oil of differentiated and peculiar characteristics, especially with respect to the aromatic and phenolic composition, could produce highly marketable EVOO, with qualities that could be selected à la carte.Galician virgin olive oil producers want to promote the production and marketing of high quality extra virgin olive oils with peculiar sensory and health characteristics. To reach this goal, it is of great interest to recover old autochthonous Local olive varieties, which may bring added value to the most common Galician olive oils elaborated from Arbequina and Picual cultivars. Results obtained in this study showed that the previous knowledge of quality‐related indices, fatty acid composition, as well as minor composition, such as phenolic and volatile profiles of monovarietal EVOOs, could be a good strategy to produce high quality extra virgin olive oils à la carte.