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Harvest
The
harvesting and processing practice facilitating the journey from tree
to table has become modernised, but its elegant simplicity has never
been complicated.
Olives are harvested from November until March, six to eight months
after their spring blossoms appear. They require very warm average
temperatures, and cannot tolerate cold below -12o C (10o F). The olive
tree prospers in very dry climates, and can tolerate droughts and high
winds. Therefore it is not surprising that olive trees grow
beautifully in the Mediterranean, with its mild winters and long, hot
summers. The Mediterranean region is responsible for 98 of the olive
oil harvest.
In many regions, olives are beaten from the tree with poles and caught
in large nets. Other Olive farmers now use machine harvesting,
including trunk and branch shakers. Still others collect olives that
fall naturally to the ground, or are nudged by wind and rain.
OLYMPIA growers, in order to obtain the best oil, strive to harvest
the olives just as they change colour, indicating that almost all the
Oil has formed and that they are at peak flavour.
Once collected, olives are rused to the mills for same day or, at
most, next day pressing. olives not pressed immediately begin to oxidise and ferment.
Thousands of years ago, crushing was done by hand in spherical stone
basins. Today, in a similar method, olives are crushed by mechanical
stainless steel grindstones. The oil is separated from the paste by
means of centrifugation, which simply means spinning the paste round
at high speed. This method produces olive oil known as first cold
pressed olive oil. No heat or chemicals have been applied. Five kilos
of olives are required to produce one litre of oil. It is the cold
press method that enables olive oil to maintain its flavour, colour
and nutritional value. In fact, olive oil is the only oil that can be
consumed as it is removed from the fruit.
A gentle filtration process is used to remove sediment and produce
extra Virgin olive oil with an acidity level of less than 1. Any oil
with acidity above this level receives an additional refining step to
remove almost all traces of colour, aroma, taste and acidity,
resulting in extra light tasting olive oil. In order to produce the
grade of oil simply known as pure olive oil, extra virgin is added
back to extra light to achieve the desired level of flavour and aroma.
Like a fine wine, each variety of olive oil is evaluated by tasting
and measuring acidity before bottling.
Also like wine, no two Olive oils are alike. Each is a unique product
of soil, climate, olive varieties and age, and processing methods.
Oils can be fruity or flowery, nutty or spicy, delicate or mild, and
can range from clear, to pale green, to golden, to deep olive green in
colour. When properly processed, olive oil can fully maintain the
flavour, aroma and vitamins of the eloquent Olive from which it came.
extracted from Olympia Xenia
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