Abstract
In this work, the prediction of olive fruit and virgin olive oil quality parameters through the direct measuring of the fruit using near infrared spectrometry (NIRS) has been investigated and the effectiveness of a portable spectrometer has been assessed. Models and calibration tests were developed using both the hexane-isopropanol extraction of individual olive fruits, and the Soxhlet extraction of olive paste. The parameters analyzed were the free acidity in olive oil, oil yield from physical extraction, oil content referring to fresh weight, oil content referring to dry matter and fruit moisture. The results indicate a good predictive potential with both methodologies and serve to encourage improvement in the obtained models through the enlargement of the calibrations. Fruit moisture prediction models showed high accuracy.
Highlights
An accurate selection of the optimal harvesting date for mill olives is very important, because oil quality depends largely on it (García et al, 1996)
Once in the mill, it would be advantageous to classify the fruits according to their oil content, oil yield and fruit moisture prior to oil extraction
The objective of the present study is to determine the effectiveness of a portable NIR spectrometer for the prediction of oil free acidity, oil yield, oil content in fresh fruit, oil content in fruit dry matter and fruit moisture content, using partial least squares (PLS) models and analyzing intact fruits
Summary
An accurate selection of the optimal harvesting date for mill olives is very important, because oil quality depends largely on it (García et al, 1996). It would be useful to develop techniques for monitoring oil content during maturity stages, by measuring the olives directly on the tree. Once in the mill, it would be advantageous to classify the fruits according to their oil content, oil yield and fruit moisture prior to oil extraction. This would improve the management of the extraction process and would allow a rapid calculation of payment to the grower according to these parameters. The prediction of this parameter from measurements on intact olives would be beneficial to the olive oil industry
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