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<pre>Hello To All
Measuring the quality of extra virgin olive oil discussion continued
2003 Harvest 550 Kilos of Olives----Pressing 244 Kilos of Extra Virgin Olive
Oil.
2.25 to 1 ratio ( 44 Percent Oil )
2005 Harvest 1,632 Kilos of Olives---Pressing 544 Kilos of Extra Virgin Olive
Oil
3 to 1 ratio (33 Percent Oil).
I know of a couple of Ways to measure if your fields are productive. The
following is the one I use. When I harvest a certain amount of olives, I take
them to the press. The olives are poured into a basin that weighs the olives
before the pressing begins.
When the harvest is over, you simply add up the weight of the olives and
divide the amount of oil, that’s you ratio. Then divide 100 lbs by the
ratio—that’s the percent of oil. I would not eat oil below 25 percent ( 4 to 1
olive to oil ratio ). Most French oils are on the average 10 to 1 (9 percent oil
). Most Tuscan, Florence, Sicilian oil are 8 to 1 (12.5 percent oil). Most
California oils are 17 to 1 (6.25 percent oil).
I believe very strongly that only a handful of places are perfect for a
particular olive, and those places were discovered by our ancestors centuries
ago. Now we have the Nicoise, Cerignola, Nyons and even the famous Seggianese
olive taken across hills, valleys, oceans and transplanted in different soil,
weather, and topography. I know you MUST have 5 elements to produce a flawless
extra virgin olive oil. Varietal, Soil, Weather, Topography and the Hand of Man.
Flawless oil comes from a flawless olive.
If you have the right olive then you will not need to mix olives, blend oils,
add coloring and enzymes.
The olive oil industry, artisan oil producers, ignorant chefs, writers, oil
judges and food tasters have all bought into this clever (wine analogy for olive
oil) and reward each other with medals and prizes. And by doing so, make all
other oil producer wrongly follow in their footsteps. So the whole world is
producing basically the same LOW yield, imaginary and colorful flavor varieties,
that might be healthy…so what if they taste better if you were an automobile.
I'm a human and I like my oil to taste as close to the olive that it was pressed
from!!
Guido I appreciate and respect your knowledge on the science and chemistry of
the olive...But I'm a hard working olive farmer who was taught the ancient
centurion way of growing, pruning, tilling, fertilizing, harvesting and pressing
our single cultivar olives. As a young boy sitting on my fathers plow for extra
weight, I learned to work and appreciate a special kind of (magic) terroir for
our olives. The same (type) of varietal growing 8 kilometers away has a ratio of
1 kilo of oil from 8 kilos of olives (12.5 percent oil). Makes you wonder why!!
So my father and I conducted our own scientific research (that's what us
farmer do when we have some free time to think things over). We save 5 small
bottles of oil from each harvest...We would open and try the oil after 3 years
then 4 years then 5 years and so on...That's how we figured out that our olive
oil will last over 8 years with perfect fresh aroma and flavor as if it was
pressed fresh yesterday. The 44 percent olive oil was pressed from the olives
you will see in the photo attachments. As you can see my olives are nice and
meaty and an even mixture of green and ripen olives. No shriveled, over ripen
olives in this batch!!!
Also I conducted a viscosity test at the university. Comparing my oil to 20
different oils, ranging from very expensive artisan oils to super market
varieties. Surprisingly all 20 bottles lasted the same amount of time 28-32
minutes at extremely high heat before turning rancid. My oil lasted over 1 hour
and 48 minutes.
Guido for me to consistently harvest and produce high yielding flawless
olives, I follow a very strict family code past down thousand years ago.
I have a line of ancient 4000 year old olive trees, from which I cut siblings
and replant (very small scale). I have small plots of land that receive a winter
after noon sun ONLY, (that's how I protect my trees from frost). I keep the same
terraced levels that the sibling was cut from, (I respect the history, life line
and neighborhood of each of my olive trees).
I harvest by hand and press each day. I press on an old fashion pressure
press, over 3 hours per pressing.
I have stayed small, ONLY about a 1000 bottles of flawless extra virgin olive
oil a year.
Like I said from the beginning, I'm a farmer and I know a little bit about
things that grow. I know that the younger you harvest almost any vegetable-the
tender it will taste and healthier it is. I know that earlier you harvest an
olive the harsher the oil will taste. The earlier you harvest an orange the less
Orange it will taste. What I'm trying to say here is that Guido might be
scientifically and chemically right about the health benefits of Evoos olive
oils...But my oil is just as healthy as any Evoos oils, but with one BIG
difference, it taste like Olives and 33-44 percent oil every year with a shelf
life of over 8 years.
Don't forget one other very important aspect of olive to oil ratio. If you
are harvesting 6 to 1 or 8 to 1 or 10 to 1, you are working 3, 5, 7 times
harder to press 1 kilo of oil. Working with your hands like I do, I want to be
able to lift my arms over my head to wash my hair instead of visiting the
medicine cabinet for a double shot of Uozo.
I want to also say one other thing to all the olive oil producers and the
Moderator of the olive oil group. I learn by listening and reading. Guido's
scientific information on olives and oils was very informative for me.(I’m just
a farmer with very dirty and bruised hands) and I thank him and all others who
made this website possible for me to continue reading and learning about the
olive..
{Moderator comment: I thank Michael for his support, and his comments. It is
through discussions like this that we all learn a little bit more about the
fruit and the oil so prized.
John Attwood, Co-moderator}
I hope we keep this discussion going for little longer. So much to learn!!
Sincerely
Michael
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