Essay On Olive Oil

SENSORY QUALITY OF OLIVE OIL AND COMPETITIONS AROUND THE WORLD

1. INTRODUCTION
Olive is an ancient and important fruit that has been being used by people for a very long time. What makes olive precious is, it contains dozens of health protective nutrients. In fact, it can be considered as the world’s healthiest food. Olive oil is commonly used in our daily life kitchen, health or beauty recipes. But how do we distinguish between olive oil from other oils? Or, how do we know that the olive oil we have is extra virgin, virgin or lampante? Olive oils have distinctive sensory properties. This properties may help us to determine the quality and the virginity of the oil without conducting a scientific experiment. International competitions are held

(i) Fruity: The basic positive attribute of virgin olive oil. This is the characteristic of oil from healthy, fresh fruits, either ripe or unripe. The aroma of the oil from unripe olives is generally characterised by grassy or leafy attributes whereas virgin olive oil from ripe fruits is characterised by aromatic flavours.

(ii) Bitter: The primary taste produced by dilute aqueous solutions of various substances such as quinine, caffeine and many alkaloids. It is the characteristic taste of olive oil from olives that are green or turning colour.

(iii) Pungent: the biting tactile sensation characteristic of oils produced at the start of the crop year, primarily from olives that are unripe.

It should be noted that these sensory attributes are derived from influence and interaction of several volatile compounds, instead of the action of a single compound. For example cis-4-heptenal, enhances the development of fishy defect with cis-2, 6-nonadienal which actually mainly strengthens the effect of 1-penten-3-one in developing a metallic defect. If cis-2, 6-nonadienal is absent in the presence of cis-4-heptenal, minimises the intensity of fishy odour.

6. COMPETITIONS AROUND THE