Abstract
Phenolic compound distribution of Turkish olive cultivars and their matching olive oils together with the influence of growing region were investigated. One hundred and one samples of olives from 18 cultivars were collected during two crop years from west, south and south-east regions of Turkey. The olives were processed to oils and both olive and olive oil samples were evaluated for their phenolic compound distribution. The results have shown that main phenolics of Turkish olives were tyrosol, oleuropein, p-coumaric acid, verbascoside, luteolin 7-O-glucoside, rutin, trans cinnamic acid, luteolin, apigenin, cyanidin 3-O-glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside. Oleuropein and trans cinnamic acid were present in higher amounts among all phenolics. Principal component analyses showed that the growing region did not have drastic effect on phenolic profile of olives. The major phenolic compounds of olive oils were tyrosol, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid, luteolin-7-O-glucoside, trans cinnamic acid, luteolin and apigenin. Luteolin is a predominant phenolic compound in almost all oil samples. Total phenol concentrations of Southeast Anatolian oils were found to be lower than those of the other regions.