Stoned green table olives ‘‘alcaparras’’ prepared from five different cultivars (Cv. Cobrançosa, Madural,
Negrinha de Freixo, Santulhana and Verdeal Transmontana) were investigated concerning their phenolic
composition and antioxidant potential. From each cultivar, five independent lots were prepared. The phenolic
profile was determined by HPLC/DAD at 280 nm, and antioxidant potential measured using the
reducing power and scavenging effect on DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radicals assays. Twelve
phenolic compounds were identified, being hyrdoxytyrosol the most abundant one, followed by verbascoside
and tyrosol. Cv. Cobrançosa and Santulhana reported higher content of phenolic compounds, with
165.76 and 163.66 mg/kg of fresh ‘‘alcaparras’’ table olives, respectively. Regarding antioxidant activity,
Cv. Santulhana and Cobrançosa showed higher EC50 values, lower than 1.40 and 0.48 mg/mL for reducing
power and DPPH methods, respectively. Significant negative correlations were obtained between olive
phenolics and EC50 values from the antioxidant activity. The direct contact of the pulp with water, characteristic
of this processing method, eliminates important hydrossoluble compounds, being the cultivar
used an important determinant for the final ‘‘alcaparras’’ composition in terms of ingested phenolic compounds
and antioxidant activity.
