title: Long argan fruit drying time is detrimental for argan oil quality.
abstract: Argan oil is extracted from the kernels of argan fruits that have been sun-dried for either a few days or up to several weeks. The influence of the fruit drying time on the quantity, quality, and preservation of solvent-extracted argan oil was compared with press-extracted argan oil. Quantitatively, the time necessary for efficient fruit peeling and the amount of extracted oil were determined with regard to the fruit drying time (0 to 28 days). Argan oil quality was studied using, as markers, moisture content, specific extinction, acid index, peroxide index, fatty acid composition, and Rancimat oxidative stability. Oil from fresh fruit presents a high moisture content, high acidity and peroxide values, and short shelf life. Ten to fourteen days of sun-drying is optimum to obtain high quality argan oil.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Chimie des Plantes et de Synthèse Organique et Bioorganique, Facultè des Sciences, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, BP 1014- Rabat, Morocco.
authors.forename: Hicham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harhar
authors.forename: Saïd
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gharby
authors.forename: Badr Eddine
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Kartah
authors.forename: Hanae
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: El Monfalouti
authors.forename: Zoubida
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Charrouf
authors.forename: Dom
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guillaume
mesh_terms: D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D029632:Sapotaceae / Q000737:chemistry*; D013997:Time Factors; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010938:Plant Oils; D014867:Water; C555574:argan oil