Fruit characteristics of six candidate olive cultivars

Some important physical, chemical and sensory characteristics of raw and processed olives (processed by the same scratched table olive process) were investigated. In the study, six candidate cultivars obtained by cross-breeding and one standard cultivar (‘Domat’) grown together in an olive breeding and observation plot in the Ataturk Central Horticultural Research Institute in Turkey were investigated. Fruit weight and flesh-to-seed ratio of fresh raw olives ranged from 5.18 to 7.65 g and 4.8 to 6.3, respectively. LT011 had the highest fruit weight, whereas LT001 and LE001 had the highest flesh-to-seed ratio. Total phenolic content and antioxidant activity of the produced table olives were estimated between 102 and 141 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100 g⁻¹fresh weight, and 13.4 and 14.9 µmol Trolox 100 g⁻¹, respectively. Fruits of LT001 had higher appearance, taste, bitterness and general appreciation scores than the others. LT001 showed a lesser loss of oleuropein absorbance and antioxidant activity than the others during processing. The results of this study revealed that LE001, LT001 and LT011 had superior characteristics for the production of scratched green table olives.