J Am Oil Chem Soc DOI 10.1007/s11746-016-2835-4 1 3 ORIGINAL PAPER Extraction and Characterization of Montmorency Sour Cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) Pit Oil Nathan M. Korlesky 1 · Lucas J. Stolp 1 · Dharma R. Kodali 1 · Robert Goldschmidt 2 · William C. Byrdwell 2 Received: 15 July 2015 / Revised: 1 April 2016 / Accepted: 15 April 2016 © AOCS 2016 Abbreviations Fatty acids M Myristic (14:0) P Palmitic (16:0) Po Palmitoleic (16:1n-7) L Linoleic (18:2n-6) El α-Eleostearic (18:3n-5)(9Z,11E,13E- octadecatrienoic acid) Ln Linolenic (18:3n-3) S Stearic (18:0) O Oleic (18:1n-9) A Arachidic (20:0) G Gadoleic(20:1n-11) B Behenic (22:0) Lg Lignoceric (24:0) APCI Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization CPO Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) pit oil DAG Diacylglycerol(s) DSC Differential scanning calorimetry OIT Oxidative induction time TAG Triacylglycerol(s) TGA Thermogravimetric analysis XRD X-ray diffraction Introduction Montmorency variety sour cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) are grown worldwide, with Russia accounting for nearly 16 % of total production and the United States accounting for around 10 % [1]. Recent statistics report sour cherry production at about 290 million pounds in the United States for 2014 Abstract Montmorency sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) pit oil (CPO) was extracted and characterized by various methods including: GC, LC–MS, NMR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The oil gave an acid value of 1.45 mg KOH/g, saponification value of 193 mg KOH/g and unsaponifiable matter content of 0.72 %. The oil contained oleic (O) and linoleic (L) acids as the major components with small concentrations of α-eleostearic acid (El, 9Z,11E,13E-octadecatrienoic acid) and saturated fatty acid palmitic (P) acid. The CPO contained six major triacyglycerols (TAG), OOO (16.83 %), OLO (16.64 %), LLO (13.20 %), OLP (7.25 %), OOP (6.49 %) and LElL (6.16 %) plus a number of other minor TAG. The TAG containing at least one saturated fatty acid constitute 33 % of the total. The polymorphic behavior of CPO as studied by DSC and XRD confirmed the presence of α, β′ and β crystal forms. The oxidative induction time of CPO was 30.3 min at 130 °C and the thermal decomposition temper- ature was 352 °C. Keywords Prunus cerasus L. · Sour cherry · Fatty acids · XRD · Triacylglycerol · Oxidative stability · Thermal stability · Eleostearic acid · Polymorphism * Dharma R. Kodali dkodali@umn.edu 1 Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2004 Folwell Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108-1038, USA 2 Food Composition and Methods Development Lab, USDA, ARS, BHNRC, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, USA