Sensorial and physico-chemical characterization of virgin olive oils produced in Canakkale

The objective of the present study was to characterize the virgin olive oils (28 samples from the 2005-06 seasons) produced in the Canakkale region. The total phenolics of the samples ranged from 34.60 to 162.61 mg gallic acid/kg. Similarly, antioxidant capacity was indicated by a range of 0.25-1.66 mmol Trolox equivalent/kg. Samples with a greater antioxidant capacity also had the highest phenolic content. Viscosity of the samples (60.4-66.3 cP) and instrumental color values (L, a*, and b*) were not statistically different among the five counties. Peroxide values of some samples were out of this range, indicating oxidation problems. The sensory quantitative description (QDA) of the appearance, aroma, flavor and mouthfeel of the olive oil samples was using 14 defining terms developed by the panel. Also, a canonical correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between physico-chemical and QDA measurements. The five geographic counties of Canakkale were found to be statistically not different from each other (p > 0.05). All regions had olive oils which were mostly olive-like, grassy, faintly bitter, very yellow and clear with a small amount of green color.