Improvement of sensorial and volatile profiles of olive oil by addition of olive leaves

The changes caused by the addition of olive leaves (0, 5, and 10%) during the extraction of olive oil and malaxation time (20, 30, and 30 min) in the volatile profile and sensory attributes of olive oil from cv. Cobrancosa were studied. To investigate such transformations, a central composite designs from the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used, retrieving 13 runs combining leaf percentages and malaxation times. Each run was extracted in triplicate (39 olive oils overall) Sensory attributes were improved to leaves addition, mainly green and fruitiness attributes in olfactory and gustatory-olfactory sensations, but high malaxation times (>30 min) reduced pungent and bitter notes. Leaves addition increased the amounts of total volatiles, particularly the GLV's (green leaves volatiles) (E)-2-hexenal, (Z)-3-hexenal, and (Z)-3-hexenyl acetate, directly correlated with the improved sensory attributes. RSM models a showed positive linear effect with leaves addition, but a negative effect with malaxation time. These results suggest the use of olive leaves as effective odorants for the olive mill industry, while enabling the reduction of malaxation times and by-product amounts. Practical applications: The results obtained clearly open new lines of research to use olive leaves, a sub-product of olive oil extraction, in a valuable way. Olive leaves can be used as natural sources of odorants for olive oils. Furthermore, their use during the extraction of olive oils from overmature olives may also lead to an improvement of the volatile fraction and provide enhanced sensory properties to the consumers, thus conferring an added value to these oils. Another important practical application is the extraction process. In our work, we advise to optimize both the percentage of leaves and the malaxation time as much as possible, as they facilitate both sensory and volatile fractions of the extracted olive oils.