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<pre>Sadoun wrote:

> Within a radius of 5 Km around our olive mill there is more than 500,000 olive
> trees (90% used for olive oil). Jordanians consume olive oil like water.

You're making me very jealous. Within 5km of our house we have precisely 0
olive trees (as far as I know).

Hence my question. We have only recently moved into our house. It is in the
mountains of Wales (latitude 52.3 deg N), but only 20 km or so from the sea
which benefits from the warming effect of the Gulf Stream. Temperatures
rarely go below -5C in winter (but could get to -10 in extreme weather), but
on the other hand do not usually get much above 22C in the summer. It can be
quite windy (up to 150km/h in very bad storms).

Now I know that there are olive varieties that are grown well up in the
Tuscan hills of Italy, and are hardier than most. I am wondering if it is
worth trying to grow an olive tree in our garden, and if so, what variety
would be best. It would be better still if we could get it to fruit and make
our own oil!

Any recommendations appreciated; I'd like to give it a go even if it fails!

Adrian
--
Adrian.Shaw@aber.ac.uk
Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Wales,
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Wales
http://pcjagg.dbs.aber.ac.uk/index.html
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<pre>Hi Adrian

>I am wondering if it is worth trying to grow an olive tree in our garden, and
if so, what variety would be best.

Hey, what the heck, go ahead and try. You are only talking one tree, right.
My concern is, where are you going to get this tree from around your area at
that latitude? I am afraid, you will not find any nurseries at your area that
carry olive at all. But, you never know.

>It would be better still if we could get it to fruit

Yes, only if you build a green house for it and pollinate it by hand. A guy
with your spirit, I bet the olive tree would love to have as an owner.

>and make our own oil!

Oil from one tree! Hmmm. Let see if you get 50 kg of olives 5-10 years after
planting. Let us assume you picked an Oily variety, then you will get around
20-25% oil after pressing. Then we are talking about a significant amount of
oil here 10-12.5Kg. That will probably last you quite a bit, actually. But
wait a minute, you need an olive mill to do that. I don't think you have one
even as far as the horizon. For the sake of argument, let say you have found
a mill, you get your bag of olives to them hoping to get it pressed. Oops,
they don't press less than 250kg lots. Your only option is to mix it with
other people's olive to get it pressed. What do you end up with? an oil not
100% from your tree. What a sad ending.

>I'd like to give it a go even if it fails!

I like your spirit. Go for it, Adrian.

Sadoun

P.S. By the way, I liked your message to the list on January 11th, and your
scientific way of thinking and referencing.
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<pre>Hi Sadoun et al.

> Oil from one tree! Hmmm. Let see if you get 50 kg of olives 5-10 years after
> planting. Let us assume you picked an Oily variety, then you will get around
> 20-25% oil after pressing. Then we are talking about a significant amount of
> oil here 10-12.5Kg. That will probably last you quite a bit, actually. But
> wait a minute, you need an olive mill to do that.

10-12.5 Kg - wow! That would be great. That would make it worth investing in
one of those little centrifuces they use to extract oil for experimental
purposes. They are neat, and very effective. I might need quite a big
glasshouse by then though. No chance of fruiting outside a glasshouse then?

> I like your spirit. Go for it, Adrian.

Now I just have to find someone willing to supply me with a hardy variety of
olive.

> P.S. By the way, I liked your message to the list on January 11th, and your
> scientific way of thinking and referencing.

I have quite a library of papers now on olive oils, so I have them all nicely
referenced in a bibliographic database - very convenient. I'm glad you like
it.

Thanks for the help,

Adrian
--
Adrian.Shaw@aber.ac.uk
Sefydliad Y Gwyddorau Biolegol, Prifysgol Cymru,
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, Cymru
http://pcjagg.dbs.aber.ac.uk/mynegai.html
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