The synergetic effects of a harvesting and conservation method designed
for small producers on the quality parameters of the produced olive oil.
Abstract
The production of ‘Premium’ olive oil depends in a 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 up to 14
days at 5 °C at a family farm, was studied for three cultivars,
‘Arbequina’, ‘Picual’, and ‘Verdial’. Ten quality 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. The strength of each factor varied in time and
according to the cultivar. The ‘Arbequina’ c.v. showed a rapid increase
in the importance of the conservation factor, while ‘Picual’ c.v. was
the most resistant to deterioration, presenting a lower explanatory
value of the conservation factor as compared to the harvesting one. The
results indicate that small producers with financial and logistic
restrictions can obtain a high-quality product. 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.