Abstract
Commercial stoned table olives named “alcaparras” from Trás-os-Montes (Portugal) were chemically characterized. During three consecutive years (2004–2006) 30 samples (10 per year) were examined for their nutritional value (moisture, crude protein, total fat, ash, carbohydrates, and energy), with a detailed report of the fatty acids and tocopherols composition. Water was the major constituent (72.5 ± 5.5%), followed by fat (14.6 ± 5.1%). The average amount of protein and ash were 1.1% and 3.4%, respectively, reporting unusual ash values for table olives, related to the technological process. One hundred grams of fresh stoned table olives presented an average energetic value of 156 kcal, lower than most table olives. The lipids are rich in oleic acid (average of 77.7 ± 2.0%), followed by palmitic acid and linoleic acid. Samples showed an average of total tocopherols of 1.2 mg/100 g of fresh weight, being α-tocopherol the most abundant. Table olives are important sources of MUFA, as olive oil, recognized as a preventive factor in diseases in which free radicals are implicated, complemented by the amounts of vitamin E, with both antioxidant and vitamin action.
Highlights
In the last decades olive products, olive oil, the finest olive product, and table olives, have been attracting increasing interest, due mostly to reports on their health promoting effects [1].Table olives are important constituents of the Mediterranean diet, being processed by several classical and traditional methodologies
Table olives are the product “prepared from the sound fruits of varieties of the cultivated olive tree (Olea europaea L.) which are chosen for their production olives whose volume, shape, flesh-to-stone ratio, fine flesh, taste, firmness and ease of detachment from the stone make them suitable for processing”
Despite having the pulp in direct contact with the brine, “alcaparras” stoned table olives moisture was similar to other one-piece table olives [17,23]
Summary
In the last decades olive products, olive oil, the finest olive product, and table olives, have been attracting increasing interest, due mostly to reports on their health promoting effects [1]. In the Trás-os-Montes region (Northeast Portugal), the second largest national producing area, stoned halved olives known as “alcaparras” are largely produced by local growers, using domestic or small-scale facilities, commercialized in local markets, and latter consumed seasoned with herb spices, onion, garlic, vinegar and olive oil, mostly in the same winter season, due to their reduced-shelf life This kind of table olives are processed from green or yellow-green healthy olive fruits, which are broken using a wood hammer, being the pulp and stone separated, and classified under the “stoned halved olives” descriptor considered by the Trade. The aim of the present work was to contribute for the chemical characterization of traditional “alcaparras” stoned table olives produced and commercialized in the Trás-os-Montes region For this purpose, a total of 30 samples, produced and commercialized in three different years 2006), were purchased at regional markets, and studied for nutritional value, individual fatty acids and tocopherol contents
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