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<pre>I was recently given an organic extra virgin olive oil originating in Malta.
On the label it stated .."The poor quality alkaline soil that we find on
Maltese hillsides and valleys contributes to the extremely low acid content
in our oil...". Is there such a relationship?
If the converse is true what does this indicate to growers on fertile,
generally acid soils in many areas of Australia?

Alan Watt
Tanja olives

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<pre>> I was recently given an organic extra virgin olive oil originating in
Malta.
> On the label it stated .."The poor quality alkaline soil that we find on
> Maltese hillsides and valleys contributes to the extremely low acid
content
> in our oil...". Is there such a relationship?
> If the converse is true what does this indicate to growers on fertile,
> generally acid soils in many areas of Australia?
>
> Alan Watt
> Tanja olives
>

This sounds like some creative spin-doctoring to me.

"Hmm, lets see, what have we got that makes us different? Awful, alkaline
soil. Okay, lets make a virtute of it and tell the world that is good"

Or have I spent too much time in advertising?

All a heavily alkaline soil will do is lock up nutrients that become
available the closer to a neutral pH you go. Heavily acidic & heavily
alkaline soils have the same problem, the locking up of some elementary
chemicals and nutrients. The only advantage that I can think of is that
almost all the chemical fertilisers are acidic, so you could pump Urea into
the ground and not suffer from increasing acidity, but that isn't much of an
advantage.

Mike Wilson
Hunter Valley NSW.
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<pre>Seems like someones brilliant marketing idea to me ( with no scientific
basis).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Watt" <tanjaolives@...>
To: <OliveOil@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, November 28, 2003 11:30 AM
Subject: [OliveOil] Soils and oils


> I was recently given an organic extra virgin olive oil originating in
Malta.
> On the label it stated .."The poor quality alkaline soil that we find on
> Maltese hillsides and valleys contributes to the extremely low acid
content
> in our oil...". Is there such a relationship?
> If the converse is true what does this indicate to growers on fertile,
> generally acid soils in many areas of Australia?
>
> Alan Watt
> Tanja olives
>
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> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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>
>
>
>
>
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<pre>--- In OliveOil@yahoogroups.com, "Alan Watt" <tanjaolives@b...> wrote:
> I was recently given an organic extra virgin olive oil originating in Malta.
> On the label it stated .."The poor quality alkaline soil that we find on
> Maltese hillsides and valleys contributes to the extremely low acid content
> in our oil...". Is there such a relationship?
> If the converse is true what does this indicate to growers on fertile,
> generally acid soils in many areas of Australia?
>

the answer Alan is yes no and maybe. Olives have adapted to the
mediterranean environment which includes (amongst many other factors)
alkaline (lime stone) soils.

The label blurb was just a bit of spin, like all the others, thing is
how did the oil taste? Did you like it? Was it good value?

Australia can easily produce low acid oils, but is there a comparable
flavour?

If the oil pleasing to the palate, to be evoo or not evoo, that is the
question.
</pre>
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