Flavoring Tunisian Olive Oil by Clove: Study on the Volatile Profiles, Quality Stability and Consumers' Acceptance

The objective of our study is to monitor the stability of olive oil flavored with cloves. Two flavoring processes were tested, namely the maceration of cloves in oil and the grinding of cloves with olives. The analysis of the obtained oils showed that the process by simulta-neous grinding of the cloves with the olives produced a better oil quality than maceration process. Fluorescence spectroscopy analysis of the oils, supplied useful and complemen-tary results. The developed aromatized olive oils by simultaneous grinding was subjected to accelerate the ageing at 60°C in the dark condition for 165 days. Results indicated that the acidity and the value of the specific extinction coefficient K232 of the control and fla-vored oils complied with the standards of the International Olive Oil Council. During ac-celerated storage, the degradation of total phenols is less marked for the flavored oils than for the control. PCA analysis revealed a clear dichotomy between polyphenols, chloro-phylls, carotenoids, L*, a*, b* and free fatty acids. On the other hand, consumers’ survey, including 224 persons, showed that only the half of consumers were familiar with cloves, they were not at all familiar with flavored oils and were ready at 84% to buy clove-flavored oil once this product was available in the market. Flavored oils offer a good alternative to multiple olive oil-based products and thus offer additional opportunities for the marketing of olive oils, particularly for producing countries.