Characteristics of Wild Pear (Pyrus glabra Boiss) Seed Oil and Its Oil-in-Water Emulsions: A Novel Source of Edible Oil

The observed high consumer demand for edible oils with high oxidative stability resulted in notable efforts to investigate wild plants as new sources of oils and fats. In this context, the fatty acid profile, total tocopherols, tocotrienols, and phenolic compounds, as well as oxidative stability parameters such as peroxide value (PV), conjugated dienes (CD), conjugated trienes (CT), anisidine value (AnV), and kinetic parameters of wild pear (Pyrus glabra Boiss.) seed oil as a novel source of edible oil are investigated. In addition, the oil-in-water emulsion is prepared from wild pear seed oil. Considering the fatty acid profile, linoleic (56.8 ± 1.4 g/100 g oil), and oleic acid (27.4 ± 0.6 g/100 g oil) are defined as the main fatty acids. The α-tocopherol (57.6 ± 0.3 mg/100 g oil) is recognized as the primary form of tocopherols in wild pear seed oil. The PV, CDV, and AnV values are lower in crude oil compared to purified oil in both oil-in-water emulsion and bulk oil. Due to high oxidative stability, wild pear seed oil could be regarded as a novel source of edible oil. Practical Applications: The concentration of the primary and secondary oxidation products in both systems was decreased, mainly due to natural tocopherols and tocotrienols. Furthermore, wild pear seed oil samples (crude and oil containing BHT and TBHQ) were the more stable ones against oxidation as compared to oil-in-water emulsion system. Therefore, it can be conclude that wild pear seed oil could be promising edible oil, as well as a functional component in foods and other bio-products. An NMR-based metabolomic approach,using “one-to-one” OPLS-DA models, allows to identify biomarkers of different production zones in “Bosana” Sardinian EVOO.