I know this varies widely between different varieties and regions. Give us an idea on the varieties you grow.

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Dear members

Hello to all..I hope you are all healthy and well. I have been away for a while and miss talking with you all.

Concerning tree productivity...

My families life has centered on the famous Athenolia olive tree..which live and thrive for over 4000 years in our small village..400 meters above sea level at the foot of Mount Taygetos.

Our family's Athenolia olive trees produce a harvest every other year between late Oct and early March.

To measure olive tree productivity, we simply wiegh the olives at the press before washing and crushing..

Example: (2005-6) 2500 kilos of olives..( My press has a scale that wieghs the olives as they are poured into the press).

Once the pressing process is finished,the olive oil is emptied into
49 kilo drums..which is also weighed.

So to measure olive tree productivity..

Example: My 2005-6 Harvest

2500 kilos of olives
833 kilos of olive oil
My (prodcution) olive to oil ration was 3 kilos of olives to make 1 kilo of olive oil.
3 to 1 ==33 percent olive oil

2000-01 I had an olive to oil ration of 2.25 kilos of olives to 1 kilo of oil= 40 pecent olive oil.

My procduction is very small.. I cut sibblings from my ancient 4000 year old Athenolia olive trees and plant 10 to 30 at a time every 3 to 5 years.

If you like to contact me: vordonia@comcast.net

Thank you
Mixalis

Good evening,

That is an excellent % of oil per kg of olives but I assume the olives were quite dry.

May I ask,
a. How many trees do you have?
b. Have you ever measured the moisture content of the olives?

Yours,
Dan

Hello

Why would you assum the olives are dry?? A (DRY) olive is DRY..the dry olive will always produce very little oil.

My olives are extremely juicy.

I measure productivity of my trees by adding the weight of my olives and the weight of oil produced from the olives. example: 2005-6 harvest

2500 kilos of olives
833 kilos of oil

2500 devided by 833=3
That tells me..my trees produce 1 kilo of oil from 3 kilos of olives
33 percent oil..3 to 1 olive to oil ratio ( ONLY the juicest olive can produce such yields)

My trees are the famous Athenolia olives..some of my trees are over 4000 years old and all my sibblings are cut from them..I have stayed very small with only about 500 trees..My trees produce fruit every other year. So prunning is extremly importent.

Also we have the perfect terroir (climate, soil, elevation and the hand of man). Because of all of the above, our area is famous for producing very high yields. Very juicy olives.

My experience has proved that my fellow villagers who have planted other types of olives and now mix their Athenolia with 4-5 other types are producing 1 kilo of oil from 10 kilos of olives. example: 2005-6 harvest

5000 kilos of olives (5 different verieties)
500 kilos of oil

Their olive to oil ratio is 1 kilo of oil from 10 kilos of olives
which means 10 percent olive oil compared with my 33 percent oil.

The reason they planted other types f olives is, 1)they followed the advice of goverment officials..2) advice of producers in areas with mixed verieties 3) people who say it's better to mix olives( to produce different flavors )..4)the advice of stupid olive writers, magazine aditors, chefs, and people who have recently been introduced to the olive oil industry..5) they wanted to have a full harverst every year instead of every other year..like I said before the Athenolia produces olives every other year..their lively hood depends on quantity and NOT QUILITY

Very nice talking with you

Sincerely
Mihalis

Hello Sadune

I ONLY have one veriety..The famouse ATHENOLIA olive tree..dating back over 4000 year...

But let me agree with you..The same Athenolia olive tree 8 kilometers away in the valley..has an olive to oil ratio of 1 kilo of oil from 11 kilos of olives..9 percent oil.

The terrior ( climate, soil, tree, and the hand of mam ) ALL combined to make our area the perfect habitate for the Athenolia's extremly juicy high yields of 1 kilo of oil from 3 kilos of olives..33 percent oil..Not to mention over 8 year shelve life..
Durring wolrd war 2..my father and the rest of the villagers barried their olive oil from the gorrilas and the Germans..My father was the only one to realize that the oil lasted through the war, over ( 4 years ). So to this day I still conduct the test my ( father tought me) proving that my oil lasts over 8 years...I fill 5 small bottles and mark them..
Example:
1997Harvest ..3,4,5,6,7,8, then I will open bottle number 3 after 3 years, bottle number 4 after 4 years and so on up to bottle number 8 after 8 years, testing for viscosity, flavor, aroma. It's always the same results..still fresh, smooth, clean taste of the Athenolia olives. Most surprising is the fact that if I slightly over fill my bottles, they will blow the cork of the top like a fine champaign..startling us all.

I produce ONLY about 700-1200 bottles a year..depending on the year.
Very Rare, Very Unique but extremely hard work, all by hand and pressed in an old fashion slow pressure press..one of my pressings (700 kilos of olives) from start to finish will last over 3.5 hours.

Sadune when the harvest is over I can barely lift my arms above my shoulders from the pain..sometimes I can't even comb my hair..I harvest only with 4 to 5 highly experienced olive pickers who love and respect tradition..It's apinfull but the results are trully un-believable..the same flavor, aroma, longivity year after year, never changing. My olive oil tastes the same as it did 40 years ago.

Let me know if you would like futher info.

Sincerely
Mihalis

My comment concerning the moisture content of the olives is related to the weight of the olive. An olive with a high moisture content will produce an apparent low % of oil whereas an olive with low moisture content will produce an apparent high % of oil. It was not intended as a slur upon your olives.

Again assumptions; presumably your trees are not irrigated and you receive very little if any summer rain. If that assumption is correct then the moisture content of the olives will be low.

Because the % oil extracted from olives is very dependant upon the amount of moisture in the olive I believe we should move away from measuring oil extraction on a weight by weight basis to something based on area of trees or perhaps just numbers of trees. Having said all of that I admit that I still record %!

Yours,
Dan

Hello Dan

Great talking with you.
Dan I'm a simple old fashion (traditional) olive farmer..I have learned my craft from my father and he from his father and he from thousands of years of knowlegde past down from the Ancient Spartans and Byzantines.

I guess you can measure the olive and weight the olive and all sorts of other modern day scientific advances..

In my village all the scientific reasearch was done by our ( ancient) ancestors..My father was smart enough to understand and apply (by trial and errow) the tradditions past down to him...Our yields are always consistant (1 kilo of oil from 3 kilos of olives = 33 percent olive oil...while others in the village follow recent trends..their yields have droped off..1 kilo of oil from 11 kilos of olives = 9 percent oil.

To measure olive yield (productivity), I just don't understand what can be easier then wieghing the olives, then weigh the oil pressed from the olives and devide..example; 2005-6 Harvest..(1)2500 kilos of olives...(2) press..(3) 833 kilos of oil...(4) 2500 devided by 833= 3

Yield for 2005-6 1 kilo of oil from 3 kilos of olives==33 percent olive oil.

But I guess when you have over 800 verieties of olive trees and you are trying to decide which to plant...It's like finding a neelde in a hay stack.

My advice would be..Look closely at our ancestors..They are the one's that planted the right trees at the right elevations, with the right soil and climate..All you need is the hand of man to appriciate, understand and manage it all correctly.

For the past 20 years the olive oil industry has been highjacked by ignorent chefs, writers, magazine aditors, chemists, scientists, millionaire olive hobbiest, and government officials..they have greatly contributed to the dicline of olive oil quility..they have trasplanted olive trees from their natural habitats to different hills, valleys, countries and continents..changing the climate, soil and changing the quility and yields..California can ONLY produce 3 percent olive oil..Californias olive to oil yields are 1 kilo of oil from 32 kilos of olives..

Believe or not Italy can ONLY produce less then 15 percent extra virgin, while Spain can produce less then 10 percent extra virgin..France ( only God knows what they are doin)..Argentina, USA, can not produce extra virgin with-out the aid of enzymes..food colorings ect..

It is extremly difficult to produce high qulity olive oil..so producers have gave up a long time ago and now use fancy marketing gimmicks to sell, what is cheep, low qulity olive oil.

Hope to hear from you again..

Sincerely
Mihalis

Mihalis

Nice to hear from you. I respect your hard work and dedication to your olive tree and land. Our olive produce on average 25-35% olive oil. Since my grandfather died ~40 years ago, the land was devided between the children. Each property provides different level of yield because of the different level of maintainance it receives.

Here is a google earth picture of the Sadoun olive land:

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