SOME BIOCHEMICAL CHANGES IN BRINE DURING PRODUCTION OF TABLE OLIVES

Türkiye is one of the leading countries in the world in both the production and consumption of table olives. Raw olives can be processed into table olives using two different methods: alkaline (chemical) and natural methods. In this study, Halhalı and Gülleki olives from Derik were transformed into crushed green olives in natural brine, stored, and the biochemical changes in the brine were monitored over a 6-months period. The brine was prepared for salt, total titratable acidity (TA), sugar (fructose, glucose, sucrose), organic acids (lactic, acetic, citric, tartaric, malic and succinic acid), total polyphenol (TP), total flavonoid (TF) contents, and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) based on the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging method at three-month intervals. During storage, the salt content in the brine of both olive varieties tended to decrease and varied between 6.71%±0.05-5.07±0.02%, 6.34%±0.03-5.08%±0.03 for Halhalı and Gülleki olives, respectively. Citric acid contents in the brine samples showed a decreasing trend, and while this acid decreased from 0.284±0.011 mg/ml to 0.064±0.001 mg/ml in Halhalı brine, it decreased from 0.621±0.041 mg/ml to 0.050±0.015 mg/ml in Gülleki variety (P0.05). Fructose and sucrose were not detected in both brine samples, and the changes in glucose content were not found to be significant (P0.05). The amounts of lactic acid and acetic acid increased during storage in both samples (P0.05), however, the increase in lactic acid in the brine of the Halhalı variety was significantly higher (6.5 times). (P0.05). Accordingly, the amount of increase in TA content (3.14) and the decrease in pH value (15.8%) were also higher in Halhalı brine. At the end of storage, TPM, TF and TAK values increased by 85%, 63% and 48%, respectively, in Halhalı brine, while these parameters increased by 43%, 106% and 45%, respectively, in Gülleki brine (P0.05). The results of this study showed that significant changes occurred in the biochemical properties of the brine of table olives during storage, indicating that the brine may possess bioactive potential.