Fatty acids and sterols evolution during the ripening of olives from the Moroccan Picholine cultivar

Abstract

From june to february 13 olive samples from Moroccan Picholine olive trees were collected. The oils from the first samples have high acidity levels (>1%). But this latter decreases rapidly then stabilizes between 0.36 and 0.44%. The evolution of the total fatty acids shows a relatively high rates of C18:3 in the first samples. These proportions decrease during the ripeness process and stabilize at 0.8 - 0.9% from begining november. The C16:0 decreases while C18:2 increases during the ripening. Monoinsaturated fatty acid predominate in the Sn 2 glycerol position. The sum of the palmitic and the stearic acids proportions.