Bioactive Compounds and Stability of a Typical Italian Bakery Products “<i>Taralli</i>” Enriched with Fermented Olive Paste

• Main Authors: Miriana Durante, Gianluca Bleve, Roberto Selvaggini, Gianluca Veneziani, Maurizio Servili, Giovanni Mita
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-09-01
• Series: Molecules
• Subjects: carotenoids; enriched foods; food by-products; hexanal; polyphenols; tocochromanols; triterpenic acids
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/24/18/3258

Olive paste (OP) is a novel by-product of olive mill industry composed of water, olive pulp, and skin. Due to its richness in bioactive compounds, OP exploitation for human consumption has recently been proposed. Starter driven fermented OP is characterized by a well-balanced lipid profile, rich in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a very good oxidative stability due to the high concentration of fat-soluble antioxidants. These characteristics make OP particularly suitable as a functional ingredient for food/feed industry, as well as for the formulation of nutraceutical products. New types of <i>taralli</i> were produced by adding 20% of fermented OP from black olives (cv Cellina di Nard&#242; and Leccino) to the dough. The levels of bioactive compounds (polyphenols, triterpenic acids, tocochromanols, and carotenoids), as well as the fatty acid profile, were monitored during 180 days of storage and compared with control <i>taralli</i> produced with the same flour without OP supplementation. <i>Taralli</i> enriched with fermented OP showed significantly higher levels of bioactive compounds than conventional ones. Furthermore, enriched <i>taralli</i> maintained a low amount of saturated fatty acids and high levels of polyphenols, triterpenic acids, tocochromanols, and carotenoids, compared to the initial value, up to about 90 days in the usual conditions of retailer shelves.