EFFECTS OF ARCHAIC OLIVE AND OIL STORAGE METHODS STILL USED IN SOUTHERN TUNISIA ON OLIVE OIL QUALITY

The present paper investigated how virgin olive oil quality is influenced by two different storage conditions that residents of Gabes (Southern Tunisia) usually apply to fruits of the Zarazi cultivar: long conservation as oil in glass bottles or traditional storage of olives as sun-dried fruits before processing for oil production. Even if both storage conditions are associated with strong losses in the qualitative characteristics of olive oil, the changes observed were more accentuated for oil stored for two years after its production compared to the oil obtained from olives stored by traditional methods. Keywords: fatty acid alkyl esters, olives, phenols, traditional storage, virgin olive oil