Comparative study of tocopherol homologue content in four almond oil cultivars during two consecutive years

In this study, a quick and easy analytical method was optimised to obtain the tocopherol (T) profile of almond oil samples in less than 18 min including the sample preparation process. As the tocopherol determination is being carried out on the almond oil, a previous optimisation step to analyse moisture and fat is simultaneously carried out. Additionally, the method was applied to the analysis of four almond cultivars (Marcona, Guara, Garrigues and Butte) cultivated in different locations during the 2004 and 2005 growing seasons. α-T mean values for the almond samples included in the study varied from 8.5 to 19.4 mg/100 g of dry almond. β+γ-T values ranged from 0.141 to 0.838 mg/100 g of dry almond. Meanwhile, δ-T was found in trace quantities in all almonds. After applying an ANOVA analysis to the data, Marcona samples were found to be significatively different to the other three cultivars included in the analysis on the basis of α-T and β+γ-T content. Moreover, a study of degradation of tocopherol homologues over time was done showing that after a year of storage, shelled and unshelled almonds maintained more than 80% of the initial tocopherol meanwhile, greater losses and variabilities in β+γ-T and δ-T were observed.