Production and characterisation of microfluidized olive powder

Abstract

SummaryMicrofluidization has been gaining popularity as a size reduction process in recent years. In this study, microfluidization technique was used for olives to change the cell wall structure and decrease the size of oil droplets. Olive powders were produced from green, black and raw olives using freeze drying following microfluidization at 1200 bar. Antioxidant activity was not affected significantly for all powders while total phenolic content decreased for green and raw olive powders with microfluidization. Among all olive powders, the one raw olive gave the highest antioxidant activity and phenolic content. In microscopic analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope images revealed that microfluidization results in finer particles which are self‐encapsulated by trapping the oil droplets. Stability analysis through Turbi Scan and rheological measurements of the powder suspensions showed that microfluidization process enables more stable suspensions having higher water holding capacity. Herschel–Bulkley model was found for the flow behaviours of the olive powder suspensions.