The table olive is well known in the Mediterranean diet and has many uses in Palestinian cuisine. There are many cultivars that are usually used as table olives. These cultivars have different characteristics in terms of composition, texture and sensory characteristics. Textural and color characteristics are usually used as indicators of maturity, and the extent to which these cultivars can meet the technological characteristics for the pickling process is being studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the texture characteristics (such as hardness, elasticity, cohesiveness, chewiness, gumminess, brittleness and resilience) and color indices (L*a*b*). For this study, 16 different cultivars (TOC2, TOC3, TOC5, TOC6, TOC9, TOC10, TOC12, TOC13, TOC14, TOC16, TOC17, TOC18, TOC19, TOC20, TOC21, TOC24) of table olives grown under controlled growing conditions were used. Approximately 500 g of table olives (500 × 16) were harvested from each cultivar. Twenty olive fruits with similar morphological and color characteristics were selected from each cultivar to measure texture and color. Our study showed that table olives from the different cultivars had significant differences in texture characteristics and lightness (L* values) and redness (a values). TOC17 had significantly higher hardness (19089 vs. 6607 g, p < 0.05) than TOC9, while cultivars TOC (2, 5, 10, 14, 16, 18, 19, and 20) had no significant differences in hardness. There were no differences between cultivars in terms of adhesion and springiness. Cultivar TOC16 showed the lowest fracturability (1306 g) (the initial force required for a material to fracture), while TOC6 had the highest (5487 g). In terms of cohesiveness, cultivar TOC19 had significantly higher values (0.207 vs. 0.143, p < 0.05) than TOC9. Cultivars TOC17 and TOC 24 had significantly higher chewiness values (236.7 and 246.5 vs. 30.9, p < 0.05) than TOC9. Olive fruit diameters were variable between cultivars, ranging from 15.48 to 22.49 mm. TOC20 had the highest lightness value (L*=63. 24), while TOC9 had the lowest value (20.85). In conclusion, the differences in texture characteristics between cultivars were very clear and significant, which was evident in hardness, cohesiveness, and fracturability.

Keywords: table olives, cultivars, color, texture, pickling.

Conference Title

The Fifth International Conference on Olive in Palestine 5th ICOP

Conference Country

Palestine

Conference Date

Nov. 21, 2022 - Nov. 22, 2022

Conference Sponsor

Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie/Tulkarem, Palestine, 21-22 November 2022