PHENOLIC CONTENT AND BITTERNESS IN AVOCADO OILS

Avocado oil from the Margarida variety, produced artisanally in the region of Venda Nova do Imigrante-ES, presents a characteristic intense bitterness, an attribute often associated with high levels of phenolic compounds. Considering the scarcity of studies on artisanal samples of this variety, this work aimed to quantify and statistically compare the total phenols in oils extracted from pulps processed by different methodologies. Five pulp pre-processing protocols were tested: Methodology 1: ripe avocados were peeled, chopped, and cooked in boiling water for 15 minutes before homogenization and drying; Methodology 2: ripe fruits, chopped and packaged in polyethylene, cooked for 10 minutes in boiling water, then homogenized and dried; Methodology 3: cooking of whole ripe fruits (15 min in boiling water) followed by peeling, homogenization, and drying; Methodologies 4 and 5: cooking of whole unripe and ripe fruits, respectively, in an autoclave (121°C/20 min), with subsequent peeling, homogenization, and drying. From each dried pulp, the oil was obtained by pressing. The total phenolic content was determined by the Folin-Ciocalteau method, with sunflower oil as a control. The one-way ANOVA analysis (α=0.05) revealed highly significant differences (F-value=927.61; p<0.0001). Tukey's test grouped the results into five categories (A to E). The sample from Methodology 3 (MAMG02) showed the highest content (1980.8±18.0 µg GAE/g), forming group A. The samples from Methodologies 2 (MAW02: 952.3±57.7 µg GAE/g) and 1 (MAJCM01: 939.9±5.6 µg GAE/g) composed group B. Methodology 5 (MAVA02: 707.0±33.8 µg GAE/g) formed group C, while the secondary Methodology 1 (MAW01: 408.4±31.7 µg GAE/g) and Methodology 4 (MAW02L: 357.2±13.3 µg GAE/g) constituted group D. Sunflower oil (20.2±4.0 µg GAE/g) formed group E. The results demonstrate that the processing methodology significantly impacts the phenolic content. Cooking whole ripe fruits in boiling water (Methodology 3) proved to be more efficient in preserving/recovering these compounds. The intense bitterness correlates with the high levels found, reinforcing the functional potential of artisanal oil.