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The preparation of table olives according to the Italian traditional “Ferrandina” method (Fer) includes an initial blanching step of black Cassanese olives, followed by salting and oven-drying. Its industrial implementation, also called the “Sybaris” method (Syb), replaces the blanching procedure by cutting the olives followed by immersion in water. The measurement of tensile properties showed that the Fer processing increased the weakness, softness, and deformability of the skin and the flesh of olive fruits, while the flesh of the Syb fruits became stronger and stiffer. These differences are probably correlated to the degradation and/or reorganisation of cell wall polysaccharides in the fruits. The degradation of pectic and hemicellulosic polysaccharides in the Fer olives was inferred by their increased solubility in aqueous solutions. Contrarily, retention of pectic polysaccharides was observed in Syb olives. As no correlation was found between cell wall degrading enzymatic activities and cell wall polysaccharides extractability, it is probable that these modifications were driven by heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an ethanolic extract from Portuguese propolis was prepared, fractionated by high-performance liquid chromatography, and the identification of the phenolic compounds was done by electrospray mass spectrometry in the negative mode. This technical approach allowed the identification of 37 phenolic compounds, which included not only the typical phenolic acids and flavonoids found in propolis from temperate zones but also several compounds in which its occurrence have never been referred to in the literature. Four of the novel phenolic compounds were methylated and/or esterified or hydroxylated derivatives of common poplar flavonoids, although six peculiar derivatives of pinocembrin/pinobanksin, containing a phenylpropanoic acid derivative moiety in their structure, were also identified. Furthermore, the Portuguese propolis sample was shown to contain a p-coumaric ester derivative dimer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]