Report on the 9^th Australian Golden Olive Awards –
Table Olives  2008

by Professor Stan Kailis - School of Plant Biology - The University of Western Australia

Professor Kailis thanks the olive growers/processors for submitting table olive products for evaluation. Participation in such a competition ensures that quality table olive products are available to consumers.

• Gold                     -  4

• Silver                   -  11

• Bronze                -  9

• No award            - 4

• Result pending   - 1

All products were scored out of 20 and awards made on the basis of -

Gold                       17 to 20

Silver                      15 to less than 17

Bronze                   13 to less than 15

No award              less than 13

Gold medals were awarded to four products. The increased number of awards in this competition compared to previous years, is a possible indication of the improved quality of the table olive products submitted.

Products submitted included back table olives, green and turning colour olives, flavoured olives, tapenades and some innovative products. The latter include olive jerky and olive dukah.

Most products submitted, on the basis of their organoleptic qualities, were considered to be suitable for commercial sale. However, all table olive products should be cleared for safety by an accredited laboratory, before selling to third parties. Both olives and brines were evaluated from the submitted table olive products. The results for one product are pending microbiological clearance. This product had high oil content and fresh garlic, a combination that can possibly increase the risk of botulism to consumers. Except for immediate use only food grade dried herbs and spices should be used in olive products.

Microbiological Analysis of Olives

Professor Kailis recommends, for future Golden Table Olive Competitions, that entrants submit at least 3 representative samples of their products for testing to Australian standards by a recognised laboratory. The following suite of tests would ensure a high degree of microbiological safety and good manufacturing practice.

Unpasteurised products - E. coli, yeast and mould tests - test for safety and contamination

Pasteurised products - Lactobacillus counts - test for effective pasteurisation method.

All products in brine and combinations - pH, acid level and salt levels of packing solution - IOC standards and labelling.

Unpasteurised salt/heat dried olives and tapenades - salt levels - IOC standard and labelling.

Other tests may be warranted - where products have excessive handling eg stuffing olives by hand, cheese additions

Table olive processors and packers should work towards proposed international standards (IOC) for table olive packing solutions as indicated in Table 1.

Table 1. Extract of IOC proposed standard for table olive packing solutions (2004)

Note: When table olive products are pasteurised or sterilised, adherence to the above levels is not required. The amounts of salt and acid present are then governed by Good Manufacturing Practice and consumer preference.

Sensory Evaluation of Table Olive Products

All table olive products submitted for judging were evaluated against the criteria in Table 2. These criteria have been developed so as to be consistent with international testing procedures. Both positive and negative attributes were evaluated.

Table 2. Criteria for the sensory evaluation of table olives.

Brines: Sensory evaluation of packing brines is generally not undertaken in table olive competitions. The rationale for their inclusion in this competition is consistent with proposed requirements of the International Olive Council. Here packing brine should be clean and free from unauthorised foreign matter but can include spices, aromatic herbs and olive oil. Both appearance and aroma of packing brines were evaluated. Attention was directed to the clarity of packing brines, where there were no additions such as herbs and spices. As the appearance of olives and brine are important to consumers, olives packed in brines containing original natural pigments as well as fruit and fermentation aromas was considered particularly desirable compared to insipid brines for this class. With green table olives, fruitiness was considered important. No rancidity was detected in the brines. Brines were scored low if they had an excessive acid/vinegar aroma.

Olives: Generally olives were of good appearance and colour and reasonably firm and crisp. In scoring, emphasis was placed on the taste and texture of the olives. Colour, size and size variability were also important attributes that contributed positively to the assessment score.

Note: Table olives should be balanced with respect to saltiness, fruitiness and bitterness. The latter flavours, when weak, were often difficult to detect at higher salt levels. Acid/winey is considered an important positive attribute, but where overpowering, such as the addition of too much vinegar when packing, becomes a negative attribute. Most of the table olives submitted showed few skin defects eg holes, pressure marks, wrinkles, sloughing or blistering.

Most of the flavoured olives submitted were weak in flavour with respect to the additions. Processors/packers need to be more adventurous in formulating their flavoured products.

Comments for individual products are given in the results section.

Sensory Evaluation of Tapenade

The criteria in Table 3 were used to evaluate the submitted tapenade samples. For clarification, tapenade is an olive paste that can contain ground olive flesh, garlic, anchovy, capers and other flavourings (herbs, spices, vinegar, lemon etc).

The tapenades assessed had a pleasant appearance, although one had large chunks of unground olive flesh. Rancidity was not a major problem the samples although one sample had obvious mould growth on the surface. In the latter, this could indicate insufficient salt, no pasteurisation or inadequate pasteurisation

Comments for individual products are given in the latter section of the results table.

Table 3. Criteria for the sensory evaluation of tapenade preparations

Note:

1. Too much anchovy can overpower the taste of the tapenade particularly if the olives used lack flavour. The texture of tapenade should be firm, not too stiff or too runny. Here the quantity of olive oil needs to be adjusted. Overall tapenades should be balanced with respect to fruitiness, acid/winey and bitterness. Care must be taken to not add excessive amounts of anchovy, vinegar or lemon juice. Otherwise the olive fruity taste is overpowered.

2. As this type of product has a tendency to go rancid when exposed to air, quality table olives must be used and added olive oil should be of high quality. Poor quality table olives and rancid olive oil will give a poor product.

Professor Kailis wishes to thank Laurel Nowacki and the Golden Globe Awards committee for providing logistics for the competition.

Professor Stan Kailis

31/08/08