NMR and Olive Oils: A Characterization According to the Cultivar

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the results obtained using 13 C NMR spectroscopy. It describes in detail all information obtainable from the 13 C NMR spectrum and reports two important studies: the first one on the relationship between the olive oil fatty acid composition and olive oil cultivar, and the second one on an agronomic problem regarding the choice of the cultivar to be grown in a non-Mediterranean area. In order to study the effect of the cultivar on the olive oil composition, olive oils coming from monovarietal cultivars were chosen with the precise restriction to be all grown in the same area with a very homogeneous microclimatic condition; in this way, the pedoclimatic influence on olive oil composition can be negligible. Therefore, 60 extra virgin olive oils from the same Italian region (South-Western Sicily) obtained from four monovarietal cultivars (Biancolilla, Tonda Iblea, Cerasuola, Nocellara del Belice) were analyzed by 13 C NMR technique.