Ethanol in Olive Fruit. Changes during Ripening

Although ethyl esters content has great importance for virgin olive oil classification, the origin of ethanol is not clear. A possible source of ethanol may be the own olive fruit while remains on the tree. Variation of fruit ethanol content during ripening was studied for three different olive cultivars: 'Picual', 'Hojiblanca' and 'Arbequina'. Ethanol was measured in fruit homogenates by HS-SPME-GC-FID. The ethanol content varied between 0.56 and 58 mg/kg. 'Hojiblanca' fruits showed the highest ethanol concentration. For all the cultivars, ethanol content of fruit increased during ripening process although a clear cultivar dependent effect was observed since 'Hojiblanca' fruits showed the most important raise. Therefore, results indicated that ethanol can be accumulated during fruit maturation on the olive tree.

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/agricultural-sciences/american-research-journal-of-agriculture/