Comparative study of Spanish-style and natural cv. Chalkidiki green olives throughout industrial-scale spontaneous fermentation and 12-month storage: safety, nutritional and quality aspects

Abstract

Table olives are among the most popular fermented foods and cv. Chalkidiki green table olives are particularly popular in both Greek and international markets. This work aimed at comparatively investigating the effect of processing method on the production of Spanish-style and natural cv. Chalkidiki green olives during fermentation and 12-month storage in brines with different chloride salts composition (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2) at industrial scale. All delivered products were safe with satisfactory color and texture characteristics. Employment of UPLC-HRMS revealed differences in metabolites’ profile of polar extracts from olives and brines between the processing methods. Τhe application of alkali treatment drastically decreased the content of hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol in drupes, still an essential amount (1037–2012 and 385–885 mg/kg dry flesh, respectively) of these health-promoting phenolic compounds was retained in all products, even after storage. Noteworthy, fermentation of natural olives in brine (5 % NaCl) yielded in products with significantly lower Na levels in olive flesh (1.7 g/100 g), followed by Spanish-style olives fermented in low (4 %) and high (8 %) NaCl brines (2.7 and 5.2 g Na/100 g, respectively), supporting the efforts toward the establishment of table olives as functional food. Moreover, maslinic and oleanolic acids content was 1.5–2-fold higher in the natural table olives compared to the Spanish-style ones owing to the detrimental effect of alkali treatments. The processing method did not exert a differential effect on α-tocopherol content of olives. Sensory analysis indicated that all the final products were acceptable by consumers, with a slight preference for Spanish-style green olives fermented in brines with 50 % lower NaCl content. Present findings could be beneficial to the ongoing endeavor directed for the establishment of table olives as a source of bioactive compounds that concerns both industrial and scientific communities.