Black ripe olive processing produces large volumes of salty wastewater that may be reduced by using a salt-free solution during the preservation stage. In this study, the employment of calcium chloride and calcium lactate during this stage to improve the texture of olives of the Manzanilla, Hojiblanca and Cacereña cultivars was assessed. Neither calcium salt affected the preservation of the olives under aerobic conditions, with yeasts and acetic acid bacteria being the predominant microorganisms during this stage, whereas lactic acid bacteria were detected after several months of preservation with the increase of the ambient temperature, including Oenoccocus sp., which has not been isolated from olives until now. Moreover, both calcium salts at 20 mM concentration were equally effective in delaying the softening of olives during all processing stages regardless of the olive cultivar. In addition, the color and flavor of the olives were not affected by either of the calcium salts. Hence, these results revealed that both calcium salts must be used for the preservation stage of black ripe olives in salt-free solution without any preference for either of them from a technical point of view.

This work was supported by the Spanish Government (Project AGL2016-76820-R, AEI/FEDER, UE). We thank Alejandra Expósito for help.

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Peer reviewed