The olive oil season in Tuscany was marked by low production and early harvest as a result of various factors, including poor flowering and summer drought. The basic analytical parameters, acidity and peroxides, resulted low on average confirming an excellent quality, even considering that some areas had been affected by olive fly attacks.
We had the opportunity to analyse various oil samples from some areas of Tuscany by using our CDR OxiTester oil analysis instrument.
The table below shows the analysis values of the 34 samples, listed according to the measured polyphenol value. It can be observed that more than half of the samples fall within a range of values reflecting high or very high quality. In addition to excellent organoleptic properties, this also indicates a high level of antioxidant substances that also positively affect the oils' shelf-life.
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A generic quality index was also calculated for all the oil samples analysed, based on the three parameters measured, which therefore assigns higher values to oils with low acidity and peroxide values and high polyphenol value.
The graph also shows the individual polyphenol values, allowing us to understand that the values with the highest quality index all lie on the left side of the graph, which means that they mostly correspond to high polyphenol values.
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This is certainly an expected result because the polyphenol value can be affected by many factors, including olive quality, processing temperature at the olive oil mill, time between harvest and pressing, ripeness, pest attacks and the oxidation level of the fruit. The compounds classified under the name "polyphenols" represent the most sensitive and are the first to be affected by possible defects in the entire production process. This is why most oil samples with a high polyphenol value are associated with a higher quality index.