Quality evaluation of cold-pressed edible oil from peanut produced from Macedonian “Virginia” variety

The conventional processing of peanuts in the food industry involves mechanical pressing during which the temperature does not surpass 40 °C. This process yields cold-pressed peanut oil and low-value peanut cake. Peanut seeds are a good source of protein, lipids and fatty acids. Peanut seeds contain 45–50% oil. The physicochemical characterization and quality of cold pressed peanut edible oil from the “Virginia” variety, organically produced from the region of Macedonia, were examined in this work for the first time. The fatty acid composition of the oil showed almost equal levels of oleic and linoleic acids with an abun dance of 34.19±0.01 and 36.13±0.01%, respectively. The most dominant saturated fatty acid was palmitic acid with a level of 10.06±0.00%. The level of tocopherols and other vitamin-E-related compounds was in strong agreement with the antioxidant activity of the oils measured by the DPPH assay. Almost equal amounts of α and γ tocopherols indicated an antioxidant potential of 288.63±59.78 mg/L α- tocopherol. Phytosterols, as minor compounds present in the oils, can be additional antioxidants responsible for the health benefits of this oil in human nutrition. The four major pytosterols were β-sitosterol (1812.21±22.17 mg/kg oil), champesterol (320.55±17.07 mg/kg oil), Δ5-avenasterol (236.16±14.18 mg/kg) and stigmasterol (133.12±12.51 mg/kg oil). Induction time, Peroxide number, FFA and specific extinction (K232 and K270, values 1.82 and 0.22) gave us an indication of the oxidative stability of cold pressed peanut oil.