Effects of a Harvesting and Conservation Method for Small Producers on the Quality of the Produced Olive Oil

Eddy Plasquy, María C. Florido, Rafael R. Sola-Guirado and José M. García
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Eddy Plasquy: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular de Productos Vegetales (CSIC), Instituto de la Grasa, Campus de la UPO, 41089 Seville, Spain
María C. Florido: Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola, E.T.S.I.A., University of de Sevilla, 41004 Seville, Spain
Rafael R. Sola-Guirado: Department of Mechanic, Campus Rabanales, University of Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
José M. García: Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular de Productos Vegetales (CSIC), Instituto de la Grasa, Campus de la UPO, 41089 Seville, Spain

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-22

Abstract: The production of ‘Premium’ olive oil depends in large part on the quality of the fruit. Small producers see themselves confronted with vast investments and logistic snags when they intend to optimize the harvesting. Today, manual harvesting devices promise less damaged fruit when compared to the traditional methods with nets while the use of a cooling room on the farm is suggested as a solution when the harvesting needs to be stretched out over several days. The use of a manual inverted umbrella during the harvest, together with a storage of up to 14 days at 5 °C, was studied for three cultivars (‘Arbequina’, ‘Picual’, and ‘Verdial’). Ten parameters of the produced oil were examined in two consecutive years together with an extended sensory analysis in the first year. The results underline the importance of the used harvesting and conservation method on the quality of the extracted oil, although the effect size of each factor varied in time and according to the cultivar. The results indicate that small producers with financial and logistic restrictions can obtain a high-quality product following the actions shown in this work, being able to compete in terms of quality in the market, either by combining both methods or by choosing the one that guarantees the best results given the cultivar and the specific storage time they need to consider.

Keywords: cold storage; manual inverted umbrella; quality parameters; sensory analysis; olive oil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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