Bioactive Compounds and Stability of a Typical Italian Bakery Products "Taralli" Enriched with Fermented Olive Paste

Olive paste (OP) is a novel by-product of olive mill industry composed of water, olivepulp, and skin. Due to its richness in bioactive compounds, OP exploitation for human consumptionhas recently been proposed. Starter driven fermented OP is characterized by a well-balanced lipidprofile, rich in mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a very good oxidative stability due to thehigh concentration of fat-soluble antioxidants. These characteristics make OP particularly suitableas a functional ingredient for food/feed industry, as well as for the formulation of nutraceuticalproducts. New types of taralli were produced by adding 20% of fermented OP from black olives (cvCellina di Nardò and Leccino) to the dough. The levels of bioactive compounds (polyphenols,triterpenic acids, tocochromanols, and carotenoids), as well as the fatty acid profile, were monitoredduring 180 days of storage and compared with control taralli produced with the same flour withoutOP supplementation. Taralli enriched with fermented OP showed significantly higher levels ofbioactive compounds than conventional ones. Furthermore, enriched taralli maintained a lowamount of saturated fatty acids and high levels of polyphenols, triterpenic acids, tocochromanols,and carotenoids, compared to the initial value, up to about 90 days in the usual conditions of retailershelves.