Quality Characterization of the New Virgin Olive Oil Var. Sikitita by Phenols and Volatile Compounds

Abstract

New cultivars with greater adaptability to modern irrigated (super-) high-density orchards and producing good sensory quality oils are highly demanded by an olive oil industry in continuous change. This work analyzes olive oil sensory quality, in terms of phenols and volatiles that are responsible for virgin olive oil flavor, for three cultivars: Picual, which is used for >15% of world olive oil production; Arbequina, which is cultivated worldwide; and the new progeny Sikitita, which is derived from the other two. The availability of data at three different levels of ripeness allowed quantifying the genetic and olive maturity effects on the oil composition by means of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis (PCA). Phenols and volatiles varied greatly both with genotype and, to a lesser extent, with olive maturity. With regard to the phenol profile, the crossbred cultivar Sikitita showed a higher degree of similarity with the Arbequina variety. The volatile composition of var. Sikitita, however, varies significantly from that of Arbequina, in the first stages of the olive ripeness, and becomes more similar to that of Picual as the level of ripeness increases.