At olive oil industrial extraction, water addition is a practice overcoming the formation of thick pastes. The effect
of water addition (0 to 6.2%, kgadded water/kgolives), during the industrial milling of cv. Arbequina olives, on the
oils’ chemical-sensory quality, was evaluated. Despite the extra virgin olive oil classification, compared with the
water incorporation (1.2–6.2%), extraction without water addition resulted into oils that showed less primary
oxidation (lower peroxide values and K232), greater total phenolic content (+12–22%) and higher oxidative
stability (+22–31%). No water addition increased the oils secoiridoids content (+5–13%), mainly oleacein
(+27–79%). Oils extracted without water addition had a more intense ripe fruity sensation (≥ +11%) but lower
fruit intensities (at least - 4%). Thus, the quality and stability of the cv. Arbequina oils can be favoured if
extracted without adding water during the olives industrial milling.
The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/
MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020), CEB (UIDB/04469/2020),
REQUIMTE-LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020) units and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/
2020); to BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004), to
Project “GreenHealth - Digital strategies in biological assets to improve
well-being and promote green health” (Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000042)
and to Project AgriFood XXI (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000041), funded
by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of
Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte. ´Itala M.G. Marx
acknowledges the Ph.D. grant (SFRH/BD/137283/2018) provided by
FCT. Nuno Rodrigues thanks to National funding by FCT- Foundation for
Science and Technology, P.I., through the institutional scientific
employment program-contract.
