522 Emir. J. Food Agric ● Vol 27 ● Issue 6 ● 2015 Infuence of argan fruit peel on the quality and oxidative stability of argan oil after prolonged storage Hicham Harhar 1 *, Said Gharby 1,2 , Dominique Guillaume 3 , Zakia Bouzoubaa 4 , Badr Eddine Kartah 1 , Zoubida Charrouf 1 1 Laboratoire de Chimie des Plantes et de Synthèse Organique et Bioorganique, Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V, BP 1014- Rabat, Morocco; 2 Etablissement Autonome de Contrôle et de coordination des exportations, Agadir, Morocco; 3 CNRS-UMR7312, UFR Médecine-Pharmacie, 51 rue Cognacq-Jay, 51100 Reims, France; 4 INRA-CRRA Agadir- Unité de Recherche Ressources Naturelles et Produits de Terroir, Laboratoire d’Agrophysiologie, B.P. 124, Inezgane, (Maroc) *Corresponding author: Hicham Harhar, Laboratoire de Chimie des Plantes et de Synthèse Organique et Bioorganique, Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V, BP 1014- Rabat, Morocco. E-mail: hichamoo79@yahoo.fr Received: 04 January 2015; Revised: 10 April 2015; Accepted: 10 April 2015; Published Online: 10 April 2015 INTRODUCTION The argan tree [Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels], belongs to the Sapotaceae family. This tree that is exclusively endemic to southwestern Morocco where it has had an essential cultural and ecological function for centuries (Ourrach et al., 2012). Nowadays, the argan forest covers over about 320,000 square miles and plays a crucial role in the rural and urban economy (Charrouf and Guillaume, 2009). Argan fruit is coated by a thick peel-covered milky pulp. Once the pulp is dry, peeling argan fruit is easy (Charrouf et al., 2002). It affords argan nuts that contain two or three almonds used to prepare argan oil, an edible and cosmetic oil (Guillaume and Charrouf, 2011; Zaanoun et al., 2014) known to be particularly rich in unsaturated fatty acids and tocopherols (Charrouf and Guillaume, 1999; Harhar et al., 2011; Gharby et al., 2013). In the argan forest, peel-cover ripe argan fruit is collected between July and September (Harhar et al., 2014). The collect is sun-dried and a large part of it is then stored to be processed later, ascertaining an all-year-long production. Fruit peeling can be performed either prior to storage or just prior to fruit processing. We have recently shown that a 2-week fruit drying time is optimum to prepare high quality argan oil (Harhar et al., 2010). However, fruit alteration could occur during the storage period that separates fruit drying and fruit processing. Since argan oil is not a refned oil, low fruit-quality would inevitably result in a low-quality oil. Therefore, fruit quality must be ascertained during the total storage period to maintain the high quality commitments of argan oil producers. To our knowledge no study has ever been performed to determine the lifespan of argan fruit in terms of resulting argan oil quality. The aim of this work is to analyze the storage behavior of argan fruit over two years using essential physico-chemical parameters as acid and peroxide value, fatty acid composition or tocopherol content and defne if late fruit peeling infuences argan oil quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS Material and experimental design Argan fruit was collected in Tiout (Taroudant County, Morocco) in August 2007. Collected fruit was sun-dried for two weeks. After this period, half of the collect was The quality of argan oil produced from peeled- or unpeeled-fruit stored for up to two years was investigated. Key physicochemical parameters were periodically determined during the study: peroxide and acid value, specifc extinction, fatty acid content, and tocopherol content. Since no signifcant differences were observed in the composition of argan oil prepared from fruit stored with or without peel over a two-year period, argan fruit peel does not infuence the physicochemical properties of argan oil. Keywords: Edible oil; Cosmetic oil; Peroxide value; Acid value; Specifc extinction; Fatty acid; Tocopherol ABSTRACT Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture. 2015. 27(6): 522-526 doi: 10.9755/ejfa.2015.04.040 http://www.ejfa.me/ SHORT COMMUNICATION