Industrial Crops and Products 56 (2014) 156–159 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Industrial Crops and Products jo u r n al homep age: www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop Effect of harvest date of Argania spinosa fruits on Argan oil quality Hicham Harhar a , Saïd Gharby a,b , Badr Kartah a , Daniel Pioch c,∗ , Dominique Guillaume d , Zoubida Charrouf a a Laboratoire de Chimie des Plantes et Synthèse Organique et Bioorganique, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, BP 1014 Rabat, Morocco b Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de Coordination des Exportations, 23 Zone Industrielle Tassila, Agadir, Morocco c UR 114 BioWooEB, TA B-114/16, Cirad, 34 398 Montpellier Cedex, France d Laboratoire de Chimie Thérapeutique, UFR Médecine-Pharmacie, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, 51 Rue Cognacq-Jay, 51100 Reims, France a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 11 August 2013 Received in revised form 28 January 2014 Accepted 30 January 2014 Keywords: Argania spinosa Harvest date Ripening Argan oil Stability a b s t r a c t Virgin Argan oil is a prized specialty oil produced by cold-pressing kernels of Argania spinosa fruits, and increasingly used in cosmetics. This work was aimed at studying the influence of fruit maturity – through harvest date – on the chemical composition of oil, in order to determine the optimal harvesting period. For this purpose, Argan fruit samples were collected at different ripening degrees. Oil quality was assessed by determining key analytical parameters: acidity, peroxide value, extinction coefficients (K 270 and K 232 ), fatty acid composition, phospholipid and tocopherol contents. In addition, the oxidative stability was measured by the Rancimat method. Argan oil obtained over the investigated period presented a rather stable chemical composition and met the standard. But owing to the higher content of tocopherols and phospholipids found in the oil from fruits collected in July (mid-summer, end of ripening period), this last sample presented the best oxidative stability. This brings an improved preservation upon storage, which is a suitable characteristic for industrial use. Therefore the stage of ripening (harvest date) is to be considered, and there is a preferred time for fruit collection in view to preparing high quality Argan oil. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Virgin Argan oil (VAO) is traditionally prepared by cold-pressing the kernel of the fruit of Argania spinosa (Skeels) L. The Argan tree is endemic to Southwestern Morocco where the Argan forest cov- ers an area of 800,000 ha (Charrouf et al., 2002). In Morocco this tree is considered an important forest species from economy and social stand points, but also for environmental reasons, owing to its ability to stand against desert progression. In addition A. spinosa is increasingly considered as an optional crop for orchards to be developed in semi-arid regions, although there is still lot of research work ahead for domestication (Bellefontaine, 2010), and for fully valorizing the range of compounds potentially available (Pioch et al., 2013). Some years ago, attempts of cultivation for commer- cial purpose were made in the Negev desert in Israel (Nerd et al., 1994). The fructification is a complex process that can last from 9 to 16 months depending on climate conditions, like temperature and rain fall (Ferradous et al., 1996). Indeed, a single Argan tree can undergo several blooming cycles: mainly a few-flowering period in September on lignified branches followed by a more abundant flowering period between December and April on the youngest ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +33 4 67 61 58 82. E-mail address: daniel.pioch@cirad.fr (D. Pioch). twigs. Additional blooming cycles can also occur in case of rather wet season or after abundant rainfall (Bani-Aameur, 2001). There- fore, determining the right time of Argan fruit maturity is difficult. The fact that (i) the blooming period can be narrow or wide, and (ii) the ripening cycle of a fruit can be long or short (Bani-Aameur et al., 1998), does not favor a stable quality for the highly priced kernel oil, whereas the quality of cold-pressed virgin oil directly depends on the quality of the raw material used for production (Matthaüs, 2013). Thanks to the fast growing market in cosmetics, in addition to its traditional use as for food, the Argan oil is now becoming famous worldwide, and its quality must be ascertained for customer satis- faction, and maximized income of producers. A large part of VAO is produced in women cooperatives under a large program aimed at sustainably developing the Argan forest as well as contributing to the income of rural families (Charrouf and Guillaume, 2008a). In these cooperatives stringent production rules are applied (Charrouf et al., 2002), like the mandatory use of high quality fruits. Whereas our team has already studied several factors influ- encing VAO quality during its production process, and described operating conditions suitable to optimize its production at var- ious scales (Matthäus et al., 2010; Harhar et al., 2010a,b, 2011; Gharby et al., 2013), the optimal fruit picking season has never been reported. Therefore the aim of the present work was to investigate chemical changes, including oxidative stability, occurring in Argan oil as a function of harvest date. 0926-6690/$ – see front matter © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.01.046