DESCRIPTION


Olives have a bitter compound named oleuropein which must be eliminated during the table olive elaboration process. Nowadays, the most usual industrial olives debitter methods consist of treating the fruits with a sodium hydroxyde solution or leaving them in brine that produce the hydrolysis, basic or acid respectively, of this compound.

However these technologies present huge drawbacks such as, in the particular case of the sodium hydroxide, the discharges highly contaminant generated and the prohibition of the product thus obtained in the trade of ecological olives. In the case of the acid maceration, the main problem lies in the enormous time required for hydrolysis, months and even years depending on the olive variety.

This new procedure allow removing bitterness of the fruit through a process of direct oxidation of oleuropein, which the advantage that does not generate polluting discharges, it is very fast at the time, from 1 to 3 days, bring about fruits fit for commercialization as a whole olives, pitted, sliced, dressed, crushed preparation pâté and, additionally, the absence of unauthorized chemicals used in their production, such as sodium hydroxide, allows obtaining fruits fit for commercialization as organic product.

In the process, once collected at the harvest season, the fruits can be kept in brine concentration until the time it was developed. Thus, the procedure presents the additional feature that provides benefits for the production of table olives throughout the whole year.

On the other hand, it has been designed an equipment capable of carrying out the elimination of the bitterness of the olives, through a process of oxidation of oleuropein, under optimal conditions and leading to a quality product with the appropriate organoleptic characteristics.

INNOVATIVE ASPECTS


The methodology presented faces, and gives answers, to the today`s major problems into the industries of table olives, such as having a rapid method for gathering and processing, have fit fruits throughout the whole year, does not required the use of chemicals not permitted in organic production, such as sodium hydroxide, and does not generate pollutants solutions.

As an extra bonus, the possibility of have an equipment capable of carrying out the process of elimination of the bitterness of the fruits under the conditions described above make the whole an enormous interest tool in the industry dedicated to the elaboration of table olives.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES


The technology presented would make possible to any company in the sector to have a mechanism for marketing of table olives that would be able to dispose of fruits for processing in any month of the year without having to wait for the collection season. In addition to, this procedure can use olives gathered with very different levels of maturity, from black to green.

The speed of the process, from 1 to 3 days depending on the variety of olives, the degree of maturation presenting the fruit at the time of harvesting and the type of final product, that is, whole or pitted olives, is another of the competitive advantages gained by using this procedure compared with existing ones.

On the other hand, due to not solutions are used in elimination of bitterness step, this procedure has the additional advantage of does not discharge pollutants during the development process as well.

Finally, because of sodium hydroxide is not required in the process of elimination of the bitterness of the fruits, it gives the company the availability of having a elaborating method of table olives that may be used additionally to the ecologic trade.

KEYWORDS


table olives, bitter, elimination, organic olives, table olives in brine

PATENT


P200800590 applied for 2008-02-29

CONTACT


José Ramón Domínguez
email: jrdominguez@orgc.csic.es
phone: +34 95 450 09 78


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