CHARACTERIZATION OF PISTACIA LENTISCUS FRUIT CAKE - A NEW APPROACH FOR UTILIZATION OF WASTE FROM FATTY OIL PRODUCTION

Pistacia lentiscus L. is a popular plant in the Mediterranean region which fruit is a source of edible fatty oil with high content of healthy unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants as well as of essential oil with various favourable effects. Since the cake of fruits after oil extraction has not been studied enough and utilized yet the aim of our work was to obtain both fatty and essential oils from the Pistacia fruit cake, and to characterize the fat content, fatty acids composition and oxidative stability, as well as the aroma, volatile and nonvolatile chemical components comparing all of them with those of the respective fatty and essential fruit oils. The results revealed that the cake contained high amount of fatty oil (22.8%). Among 11 detected fatty acids oleic and linoleic acids predominated at levels of 39.9% and 29.8%, respectively. The oil from cake had relatively high oxidative stability (presented by conjugated dienes and trienes, peroxide value and Rancimat Oxidative stability index) equal to that of fruit oil. The essential oil obtained from defatted cake displayed the same chemical profile as the fruit essential oil, but differed in the quantity of the individual compounds. In addition, it has been found that beta-myrcene and alpha-pinene together with other minor constituents defined the odour of the edible fatty oil from P. lentiscus fruit.

Automated summary

The study found that the cake of Pistacia lentiscus fruit contains a high amount of fatty oil, with oleic and linoleic acids as the main fatty acid components. The oil extracted from the cake exhibits relatively high oxidative stability, while the chemical profile of the essential oil obtained from the defatted cake is similar to that of the fruit essential oil.