Olives are inedible due to high levels of bitter phenolics (<i>e.g.</i> oleuropein) that must be reduced in order to create edible products.  Current commercial de-bittering methods are highly water intensive, produce toxic wastewater, and are environmentally unsustainable. To address this, macroreticular polymeric resins were employed to assist de-bittering; reducing water use and lye processing.  Amberlite ® resins XAD4, XAD16N, XAD7HP and FPX66 were evaluated for their ability to adsorb phenolics related to olive bitterness (i.e. oleuropein, ligstroside, oleuropein aglycone, ligstroside aglycone, oleocanthal, oleacein) as well as hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol. All resins effectively adsorbed oleuropein and ligstroside from olive extracts and brines.  FPX66 reduced the oleuropein concentration in whole Manzanilla olives during brine storage to 0.635 mg/kg w.wt in 2.5 months with no further processing. This level corresponds to lower oleuropein levels than those found in traditionally cured California black ripe table olives (0.975 mg/kg w.wt). Results demonstrate that resins can be used passively in storage brines to decrease levels of bitter phenolics in olives during storage to create an edible product without excessive processing.<br/>

Novel approaches to reduce bitterness in whole olives for environmentally sustainability

2019 Spring National Meeting

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