History of Olive Oil

Olives from the Grove to the Press to the Bottle to the Palate

HISTORY
The wild olive tree is native to Asia Minor and references to them date back roughly 6000 years ago, mainly in modern day Iran, Syria, and Palestine. It was thought to be the first cultivated crop by nomadic man. The modern fruit-bearing olive tree, olea europaea, dates back to the 17th century bc where it first appeared in print in Egyptian records and was mentioned numerous times in the Bible. The word “olive” comes from the Latin olivea which first appeared in English around 1200ad. Olive trees were introduced to California in 1769 by the Spanish Franciscan Friars. Their mandate from the Spanish Crown was to explore this new land and set up a series of missions, where they would plant yellow mustard grass for trail marking, black mission fig trees for food, mission grapes for sacramental wines and brandy, and mission olive trees for olive oil. From the first mission on the Baja peninsula south of San Diego six hundred and thirty miles north to the town square in Sonoma there is a series of twenty one missions marking the Friars explorations. The collection of missions and the trail that connected them became known as the El Camino Real, or the royal road.

QUALITY
Olive trees were cultivated in Asia Minor originally because the trees grew wild in that environment, the resulting oil that was created from well suited growing conditions for the olives was thought to taste better. Those original Olive trees were cultivated, and cuttings were taken everywhere for planting across the Mediterranean. Today Spain and Italy are still the leaders internationally in olives and olive oil production. But California has developed a reputation for some of the highest quality internationally. Mainly because of the science of agriculture in California with the ag focused state college system. You can receive a degree in horticulture and plant biology from UC Davis with a focus in Pomology, the study of olives, right along side of the graduates in the viticultural school of Enology, the study of grapes and wine making. Sometimes in Europe there is not as much focus on the study of new methods and plantings, rather a focus on tradition and traditional varieties. In the hands of an artisan the century old plus trees of Spain and Italy are still capable of the greatest olive oils on the planet. Much of the excellence is consumed locally and does not make it to the states. Fraud and dilution has been the scourge of the European olive oil industry as of late, unfortunately stories of canola oil being soaked in the left over olive paste from olive oil production to absorb aroma, and then being bottled as extra virgin are not rare. Blech. California has developed a fascination with the aromas and textures of the different olive varieties and how they respond to the varied Mediterranean micro climates available in California’s wine growing regions. The quality of California olive oils has escalated because of the precision farming of the olives, the greater appreciation for blending several varieties together to achieve balanced texture and aroma, and the extreme attention to sanitation, temperature control, and oxidation during production. You align all of these elements, and the results are an explosion of high quality olive oils from specifically engineered olive groves, planted and organically grown to precise ripeness, for maximum aroma and flavor, processed in winery-like conditions.

CULTIVATION
Different weather and location has an effect on the olives flavors and textures, heat, cold, humidity, rain fall, and different soils, rich and loamy, or rocky and hot. In the case of olives, yes flavor is a big factor in the flesh and stone of the olive, but equal if not more important consideration is paid to the oleic acid content and the water content in the olives. When a wine grape is ready to pick, you can pop one in your mouth and taste the sugars and acids in the grape juice and make a sensory determination about the flavor. The olive is not very pleasant to eat raw. As a matter of fact it is pretty much inedible when raw. So color is the number one factor in determining the ripeness for harvest decisions. Breaking open an olive to examine the depth of the ripeness penetration into the flesh and its’ uniformity is the final step before the pick decision is made. Each variety of olive has its’ own color band of ripeness indicators.

An olive tree likes to have its interior branches thinned to allow for more light and air through the canopy. This encourages better and more even ripening of the olives, which becomes important during harvest where the attempt is to pick each tree entirely on the day of peak aromatics and ripeness. The skill and understanding of the pruning sets the harvest size. After the annual pruning the olive tree is, pretty much, a hands-off proposition until harvest. Water is an essential control element as too much dilutes the essential oils collecting in the olives, and too little devigorates and shrivels the olives. Just like with grape vines, the age of the plant will diminish the yield of fruit as they grow older. Olive trees have a natural alternate bearing harvest cycle. One year they carry a heavy crop, the next year lean. Better crop management is the only way to mediate the drastic swings, but the weather can always throw you curve balls every harvest season. On a good year, with a well maintained tree, depending on the extraction method for the oil, you can expect roughly three quarters to one gallon of extra virgin olive oil per tree. That is right per tree. One ton of ripe olives will yield in the neighborhood of 14 gallons of olive oil. We are talking labor of love.

CLASSIFICATION
Freshness and handling of the freshly picked olives are the two most important factors in determining purity of flavor and extra virgin classification. Raw olives begin oxidizing immediately after being harvested. They contain an oleic acid that can degrade the quality of the oil if too much is present in the olives. The more you bruise an olive with rough handling, and the longer the olives wait after harvesting before being processed, the more oleic acid you release into the olives flesh. Oleic acid is the number one contributor to bitterness in the finished oil. The classification of olive oil grades is based on the oleic acid content.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the first cold pressing of the olives with up to 1% oleic acid present. It is considered the finest and fruitiest, and thus the most expensive. Generally deeper in color and more intense in flavor.
Virgin Olive Oil is also the first cold pressing of the olives, but the oleic acid content is up to 3%.
Fino Olive Oil is a blend of extra virgin and virgin olive oils
Light Olive Oil this version contains the same amount of beneficial monounsaturated fats as regular olive oils, but due to the refining process, it is lighter in color and has essentially no flavor. This makes a good choice for baking and other purposes where the heavier flavor might not be desirable. This process also gives it a higher smoke point, making it a prime candidate for high-heat cooking.



PROCESSING
All olive oil production regardless of classification begins much the same way. This process has not seen much change in 5000 years. Even today’s most modern olive mill equipment can still be comprised of two heavy stone wheels for gentle crushing. Each olive contains millions of plant cells that each contain one drop of oil. By crushing the olives, you crush all of those individual drops together to form larger drops that keep combining until a rich fluid is formed. There are two basic methods for drawing the olive oil away from the olives.

The Olive Press – The technique behind pressing the olives is basically as old as the first cultivated tree. The first relics of olive presses found date back to the Greeks and are around 5000 years old.
~Harvest the olives all at once from each tree at the peak of perfect ripeness.
~Harvesting is accomplished by either a machine grabber for shaking the olive
tree by the trunk and collecting the olives onto tarps as they fall off,
or by the manual method of long poles used to grab each branch of
the olive tree by hand and shake it until all of the ripe olives fall onto a
tarp.
~Olive harvest can run from October to February.
~Wash the olives to remove foreign materials and dirt and dust.
~The olives are gently ground for 30 minutes under the granite millstones
or pulverized in a hammer mill until a glistening paste forms.
~The olive paste is spread onto fiber disks and stacked on top of each other.
~These disks are placed under a hydraulic piston and compressed.
~The resulting liquid is a combination of olive oil and water.
~The olive oil and water need to be separated. Old school is to place the
liquid in a vessel and let the oil and water separate naturally. Modern
style is to place the liquid in a centrifuge and spin the water out.
~Good quality can be achieved with this method given extreme devotion to
sanitation of the press disks between pressings.
~Quality can degrade if the sanitation is not kept up, and in order to clean the
disks properly, there is a delay between pressings, allowing the paste to
oxidize further increasing the bitter oleic acids.
The Olive Mill-This technique differs from the press in that the system is designed to process the olives without exposing them to oxygen. The efficiency of this continuous process and the ability to maximize the quality yield of the olives has contributed to an increase in quality. With no delays in processing for filter pad cleaning, and a hands-off precision to the separation phase, the achievable quality goes up.
~ Harvest the olives all at once from each tree at the peak of perfect ripeness.
~Olive harvest can run from October to February
~ Wash the olives to remove foreign materials and dirt and dust.
~The olives can be transformed into paste with two methods. The paste is
a combination of the mashed olives water and olive oil.
~The Hammer Mill – which pulverizes the olives and releases more of
the peppery pungency of the olives.
~The Stone Mill – which crushes the olives under one ton stone
wheels, considered a more gentle process for extracting the
pure richness and luxury of the olives.
~The two processes can be utilized in the same mill to create
complexity and mouthfeel to perfection.
~The olive paste is then massaged in a vat with an auger for thirty five minutes
until it literally glistens with olive oil.
~The paste now needs to be separated from the olive oil so it is transferred
into a horizontal centrifuge, where the oil and water are spun out of the
paste.
~The remaining dry paste is composted and used as nutrient material for the
olive groves.
~The olive oil and water now need to be separated. This time it is a vertical
centrifuge that spins the water out of the olive oil.
~The pure olive oil can now be transferred into steel tanks with a nitrogen gas
blanket on top of the liquid so as to eliminate any oxidation. This also
allows for the oil to be drawn fresh for months after harvest, or until
ready for bottling.




STORAGE AND LONGEVITY
~ Nine months after the olive oil is bottled is the window of freshness. The olive oil
will still be fine after that, but there will be a noticeable oxidative taste.
~The date on an olive oil bottle is the date of its’ bottling, not the year the olives
were grown. So the storage methods for the oils before bottling can have a
direct effect on the life span of the olive oil.
~Once opened a bottle should remain fresh for thirty to sixty days.
~Olive oils should be stored like wine, in a cool dark environment.
~In America, for the first time in history, olive oils are being tested for the oleic oil
content present in the finished oil. If it exceeds .08% oleic acid, it can no longer
be sold as Extra Virgin.
~Cold pressing refers to keeping the temperature below 80˚ during processing, which
ensures the greatest capture of nutrients and flavor.
~Heat can be used to extract a greater amount of olive oil per ton of olives, but there
is a quality diminishment and a lack of freshness in the flavor.

TASTING
~Color of the finished olive oil is not a giant factor in quality, so colored glasses are
often used to taste and smell, minimizing the oxidative effect of sunlight.
~Warm the oil slightly by cupping the glass in your hand and rolling the oil around.
~Take in the aroma after swirling, by putting your nose at the edge of the glass,
rather than in the middle as with wine.
~Sip a small amount.
~Roll it over your tongue.
~Aerate the oil by sucking air through your teeth while the oil is still in your mouth.
~Swallow the oil, yes I said swallow it.
~Some people will cough after swallowing the oil, this is actually considered a
complement to olive oil producers, as it shows intensity.
~Use crisp apple slices to cleanse the palate between tastes.
~Italian olive varieties are often harvested earlier and greener for a more peppery and
spicy palate.
~Spanish olives are often harvested later in the season and much riper for a more rich
and buttery texture and flavor.