**2. Preparations and styles**

344 Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

characterize the different Italian regions (Table 2).

fraction is specifically suitable for processing as table olives. Italy is rich in typical table olive products, obtained by traditional methods, many of which have obtained or aspired to the recognition of trademarks (PDO, PGI, TAP). The reference to the origin through the Protected Designation of Origin and the Protected Geographical Indication gives to the product added value and it is greatly appreciated by the consumer. The Italian PDO recognized are only three, "Nocellara del Belice" (Sicilia), "La Bella della Daunia" (Puglia) and "Oliva Ascolana del Piceno" (Marche and Abruzzo). The trademark "Traditional Agrifood Products-TAP" (Decree of Italian Ministry of Agriculture 18 July 2000; XII Revision of 7 June 2012) indicate those food products whose methods of processing are consolidated and have been used for a period not less than 25 years. Italy recognize many traditional table olive products, thanks to the country tradition that has passed to the present unique and singular processing technologies for table olives, reflecting the different realities that

**Table 1.** Table olive consumption. Data are expressed as 1000 tonnes. Source: International Olive

Council (November 2011). \* provisional; \*\*previsional.

The numerous Italian olive cultivars with remarkable aptitude for processing as table olives have allowed the development of specific and diversified process technologies. The Italian table olive production is mainly concentrated in the Southern and Central regions of Italy (Figure 1).

Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Table Olives 347

between the skin and the pit. To verify a correct lye treatment, olives are cut with a particularly sharp blade such as razor blade or scalpel near the pit, checking the surface after air exposition. After alkaline treatment, the olives are washed with potable water. The

 the first one is a strong washing with potable water made using a shower lasting 15-20 minutes in order to eliminate the lye attached to the fruit surface; the olives washed are

after 2-3 hours a second faster and simpler washing takes place using a filling-

in the following 24-48 hours 3-4 other washings are carried out, using always a filling-

After water-washings to eliminate the residual lye, olives are covered with a sodium chloride solution (brine) and left to develop a spontaneous lactic fermentation. Initial brine concentrations are 8-10% NaCl but rapidly drop to 5% due to the high content of interchangeable water in the olives. A spontaneous fermentation starts as soon as the olives are placed in brine. After alkaline treatment, the pH of olive flesh reaches the value of 11.0- 13.0 down to the value of 8.0-9.0 after the repeated washings. In this broth culture, a complex and variable microbiota grows. Reducing sugars and glucosides, the basic sources of carbon needed in the development of lactobacilli and other microrganisms, pass from olive flesh to the brine, where they are used by heterofermentative or homofermentative microrganisms to produce lactic acid. In the first phase of fermentation, when Gramnegative bacteria prevail, the pH ranges from 8.0-9.0 to about 6.0. This low pH promotes the growth of lactic acid bacteria that are aciduric with optimal growth between pH 5.5 and 5.8. At the end of lactic fermentation, the pH reaches values <4.0 and acidity increases, ensuring thus the preservation of the product. The lactic fermentation ends with the exhaustion of available carbohydrates (glucose from glucosides and reducing sugars). Several researches have been carried out to evaluate the technological functionality of selected lactic acid bacteria or enterococci in Spanish-style green olive processing. *Enterococcus casseliflavus* and *Lactobacillus pentosus* (de Castro *et al*., 2002; Sánchez *et al*., 2001) have been proposed as starter cultures to accelerate lactic acid formation at pH 9 (immediately after washings). In this case, obviously, the strain used as starter is not necessarily oleuropeinolytic because lye has just demolished the bitter glucoside. The importance of this type of starter is to reduce the lag phase and the risk of spoilage (Bevilacqua *et al*., 2010; Ruiz-Barba *et al*., 1994; Leal-Sanchez *et al.,* 2003). As a result of ill-treatment alkali set or poorly conducted, the tissues of the fruit may also undergo profound changes in structural and nutritional constituents

This is a production method used in Sicilia, almost exclusively in the Castelvetrano district using the *Nocellara del Belice* cultivar. The product is mainly consumed in central and southern Italy (Cappello & Poiana, 2005; Lanza & Poiana, 2011). The olives are hand-

sequence of washings is the following:

emptying procedure

emptying procedure.

(Marsilio & Lanza, 1995).

*2.1.2. Sweet green olives by Castelvetrano-style* 

then left in the final washing water

**Figure 1.** Regional distribution of Italian table olive production.

The main Italian table olive preparations are the following:
