TURKISH Olive Oil Harvest by the best olive oil wholesaler!
The olive tree (Olea Europea) is a strong tree. Despite its slow and difficult growth, it has a long life. Therefore, it is called the “Immortal Tree” in mythology and botany.
The olive tree which has an average height of 2-10 m, bears a large number of fruits in one year, and less in the following year. The blooming period is between April and June. Green olives ripen between the end of August and the beginning of November. Picking methods in olive oil harvest have not changed for thousands of years. The hand-picking or shaking method has been used for centuries. The harvest period is between October and February. Harvest with machines is slowly replacing the traditional method of shaking. Today, methods such as body or branch shaking, and picking the fruits on the ground using absorbent equipment are being utilized in the machines used for the olive harvest. In the hand-picking method running off or combing is used and in the picking from the ground method, roller or brush is used. Among these methods, hand-picking requires the most effort. This method where a maximum of 9-10 kg olive is picked per hour enables olive oil production with
the highest quality if the fruit is good.Another tradition that has not changed in olive oil culture for thousands of years is the method of extracting oil from olive as olive oil can be consumed without any chemical process.
An olive fruit has approximately 20% oil, 40% vegetable water, and 40% solid matter.There is no difference in olive oil extraction methods of today and the past. Olives are pressed and the paste form is obtained. Then the paste is pressed.
Eventually, the oil is separated from the vegetable water. Hydraulic press machines were started to be used at the beginning of the 19th century due to technological improvements.
Today, instead of hydraulic press machines, machines that enable olive oil extraction from the olive paste by centrifugal force are being used. These are called “Continuous Systems”. Continuous systems are fully automatic machines. High-quality olive oil cannot be obtained from the olives falling on the ground, therefore, they are processed separately.
The variety of the olive tree, geographical characteristics of the region, climate conditions, implementation of agricultural pest control, fertilization or irrigation, harvest time and method, the technology used for olive oil extraction, storage conditions, and packing material affects the quality of olive oil.
Olive Oil Harvest Quality
In order to obtain high-quality olive oil, undamaged olives should be harvested at the right time by using appropriate methods and should be immediately and appropriately processed at olive press plants. It is very important that the olives should be processed as soon as possible after the harvest. Because if olives are kept waiting, they will be fermented. This reduces the quality of olive oil and it loses its extra virgin characteristics.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the best olive oil wholesaler!
Ladaca is a filtered, superior category of extra virgin olive oil obtained directly from hand-selected olive blends and produced from a selected breed of mountain olive groves of the Aegean Coast.
