History of growing olives in New Zealand

History of growing olives in New Zealand

Chocolate oligopoly in USA wants to change chocolate's definition to not include cocoa butter

From Oligopolywatch

According to a Bloomberg article ("Hershey Battles Chocolate Connoisseurs Over Selling `Mockolate'". April 24):

The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, whose members include Hershey, Nestle SA and Archer Daniels Midland Co., has a petition before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to redefine what constitutes chocolate. They want to make it without the required ingredients of cocoa butter and cocoa solids, using instead artificial sweeteners, milk substitutes and vegetable fats such as hydrogenated and trans fats.

The reason for the requested change is the great expense of cocoa butter, a required ingredient. Big Candy would like to substitute cheaper stuff, included the dread tarns-fats.
There's been little public reaction to the little-publicized proposal, and that's just fine with the chocolate-makers. They'd like to "help" the overtaxed Food and Drug Administration to draft new rules, especially while there is still time in a big business-loving Bush administration.

Mixed news for sensory panels seeking IOOC accreditation

Every year, the IOOC releases a list of the panels allowed to give sensory evaluation for the council for the next year.

Bad news for California, mixed news for Australia, good news for New Zealand:
The International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) has released the list of accredited organoleptic panels qualified to classify olive oil for the year 2006/2007. A notable absence is the Australian Olive Association Panel which has been leading the development of the taste element of Australian olive oils for almost a decade. The panel has had a major impact on the organoleptic development of Australian olive oils through the participation of its members in most of the recognised national olive oil competitions. A new panel, administered by Peter Olsen of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries in Wagga Wagga, has been added to the list for the first time. In New Zealand the panel supervised by Margaret Edwards for Olives New Zealand has been accredited while the United States will be without a panel for another year, the California Olive Oil Council panel not achieving recognition.

Here's the list of panels from the UN agency, the International Olive Oil Council

Here's a preview of the next two weeks -- non-mediterranean olive oils

Explore the continent of Australia

Explore the country of New Zealand

Explore South America

Explore North America

Explore South Africa

Explore vinegars of the non-Mediterranean

Facts about olive oil labeling: the truth about extra virgin, best used by, and more

23 of the 24 countries of the world that are the major producers of olive oil belong to a non-governmental regulating body called the International Olive Oil Council. The 24th country has antiquated laws and regulations about olive oil and has not signed on to the Council. In 23 of those countries, an olive oil sold as "Extra Virgin" meets quite a stringent set of rules that dictate what's being sold to you is good, quality olive juice... not the cooking oil that refined olive oil is, barely tasting separate from its crude colleagues, canola oil, vegetable oil, corn oil; "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" is more on par with hazelnut oil, pinenut oil, almond oil, but really a league above them as well. Olive Oil has more variations of taste than butter--and butter tastes damn good. The highest quality olive oils have as much variation as the highest quality honeys, or the variations in cheese. They are beautiful expressions of the diversity of the olive and its connection to the land on which it grows.

The 24th country is the United States, which, save for a ribald band of olive oil producers in California that have formed the California Olive Oil Council, has no meaningful regulations on what can be called "Extra Virgin" olive oil. The minimal requirements set by U.S. laws allow the most indistinct, bland, and flavorless oils to still call themselves "Extra Virgin." It's meaning as a label has been severely diminished. So,

FACT #1 - "Extra Virgin" on a label of an olive oil bottle means absolutely nothing in regard to the taste of the oil in that bottle.

Once the physical means of extracting olive juice have been exhausted, the resulting oil is stored in huge stainless steel vats. Many olive oils are labeled "best used by" with a date stamped two years after the bottling date. That's the minimal requirements if an olive oil producer puts a "best used by" on their bottle. But here's the catch for the consumer: olive oil starts degrading the moment it's crushed out of that olive--it no longer has nature to protect it and in about two years, give or take quite a few months, that oil will go rancid. It's degrading while it's in that stainless steel vat. We can slow it down, but not WAY down--not without using chemistry and high temperatures to remove all impurities from the oil. It's that purity that U.S. laws regulate (and don't get me started on the fact that these are self-regulating laws, with no meaningful inspections)--which means that U.S. laws don't help people recognize fresh, tasty olive juice.

FACT #2 - "Best Used By" means absolutely nothing if not accompanied by a "Harvested In" date as well. The average time one has to use a high-quality extra virgin olive oil is about two years, some varieties giving nearly three years or even more, other varieties giving only a year.

FACT #3 - Not all "extra virgin" olive oils are as high quality as others, even when following the rules of the I.O.O.C. Look for the initials A.O.C. or D.O.P. (sometimes D.P.O.) as the easiest sign to see of a high-quality olive oil.

Frying with extra virgin olive oil - smoke point myths

It's a myth that you can't fry with extra virgin olive oil. The smoke point of extra virgin olive oil is variable, but rarely falls below 375F for high end, high quality extra virgin olive oil. The smoke point is going to vary because it's effected by the free fatty acid content of the oil. The higher the free fatty acid content, the lower the smoke point. With refined olive oils (which is different than "virgin" vs. "extra virgin"), the fatty acids have been lowered by chemically stripping them out. With really high end olive oils, the fatty acid content is low because the olive was treated really well in its harvest and production.

The best temperature to fry foods (in a deep-fryer even) is 350 to 375 degrees F (several sources say this, including Joy of Cooking), which is below a nice high end olive oil's smoke point.

Free Fatty Acid % - Smoke Point Temp (degrees F)
0.04 - 425
0.06 - 410
0.08 - 400
0.10 - 390
0.20 - 375
0.40 - 350
0.60 - 340
0.80 - 330
1.00 - 320

That's a chart that shows how the smoke point of oil will change as the free fatty acid content changes. Notice that at the minimum acceptable level of free fatty acids in extra virgin olive oil (.8%) the smoke point is 330 degrees F, but much higher at a really high end olive oil's free acid content (Pasolivo's harvest this year is .15% so you could reach 380 degrees F). The California Olive Oil Council (COOC) seal means that the oil has a minimum of .5%, which would be at the lowest 345 degrees, and with a high end COOC oil fine for frying.

If you're using unfiltered or undecanted olive oil, smoke will occur (but the oil isn't smoking) because little olive solids are smoking.

So, my recommendation is to only use a high end extra virgin olive oil that has the free fatty acid content printed on the label below .2% if you're going to fry. And honestly, in this day and age, if an olive oil manufacturer isn't printing the acid content on the bottle, I would wonder why not and insist on tasting the oil before I buy it. Use one that doesn't have a lot of visible solids in it (or let the bottle sit for a day so the solids can settle) since burnt olive solids may have a negative effect on the taste of your food. Or use a refined olive oil. What I wouldn't use is something that calls itself "extra virgin" and sells for less than $30 a liter.

The other myth I want to dispel is that one is wasting their money by putting good olive oil in a skillet, but I'll do that later. You can find out yourself it's a myth by frying an egg in a good Tuscan-style olive oil and frying one in Colavita.

Experts may have found what's bugging the bees - Los Angeles Times

Experts may have found what's bugging the bees - Los Angeles Times

A fungus that caused widespread loss of bee colonies in Europe and Asia may be playing a crucial role in the mysterious phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out bees across the United States, UC San Francisco researchers said Wednesday.

Researchers have been struggling for months to explain the disorder, and the new findings provide the first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause.

But the results are "highly preliminary" and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. "We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved."

Other researchers said Wednesday that they too had found the fungus, a single-celled parasite called Nosema ceranae, in affected hives from around the country — as well as in some hives where bees had survived. Those researchers have also found two other fungi and half a dozen viruses in the dead bees.
...
Historically, bee losses are not unusual. Weather, pesticide exposures and infestations by pests, such as the Varroa mite, have wiped out significant numbers of colonies in the past, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s.

But the current loss appears unprecedented. Beekeepers in 28 states, Canada and Britain have reported large losses. About a quarter of the estimated 2.4 million commercial colonies across the United States have been lost since fall, said Jerry Hayes of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Gainesville.

I won't even get into the proposed theory that cell phones are causing this (as if cell phone networks just came into existence in the last couple of years?)

Crop pollination and honeybees

This article ran a year ago:

Time for a new approach to crop pollination: "The parasitic mite that devastated honey bee colonies across the United States this spring served notice that we are overly reliant upon the honey bee for crop pollination. Beekeepers report the mite infested 40 to 60 percent of managed beehives. Unless we find alternate pollinators to cart around, or another means to pollinate our fields, we risk periodic crop failures due to lack of pollination. And not just of almonds (whose February bloom faced severe honey bee shortages), but of any of the more than 100 insect-pollinated crops grown in the United States as well."

Now, this year a phenomenon called Colony Collapse Disorder is occurring with honeybees.

From 1971 to 2006 approximately half of the U.S. honey bee colonies have vanished, but this decline includes the cumulative losses from all factors such as urbanization, pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites and commercial beekeepers retiring and going out of business, and has been fairly gradual. Late in the year 2006 and in early 2007, however, the rate of attrition was alleged to have reached new proportions, and the term "Colony Collapse Disorder" was proposed to describe this sudden rash of disappearances.^[1]

This could have a devastating effect on many crops, 1/3 of U.S. crops possibly, but probably not olives since wind is the main pollinator of olive trees.

Thanks to my co-worker, Vanessa, for reminding me about this.

Abandoned olive groves breeding ground for olive fruit fly

Invasive Species Weblog: "The Chico Enterprise Record has an article, written by the Deputy Agricultural Commissioner of Butte County, California, about invasive olive trees - true olives (Olea spp.), not Russian or autumn olives (Elaeagnus spp.). The Deputy Ag Commissioner notes that abandoned olive groves in California have become vectors for crop pests, like the Olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae), and these pests are threatening active olive orchards. The fruits of the abandoned trees are also being dispersed by birds, and some trees have been found in wild areas."

My next tasting is on April 18 -- The World of Olive Oil

Following is the description of my next tasting from my co-worker, Jess. I'll talk about the tasting myself more later, but the basic theme is old world vs. new world.

World of Olive Oil with Solomon
Wednesday, April 18th, 7:00-9:00pm, $20 per person
Zingerman’s Deli-Next Door
Call 734-663-3400 to reserve your spot(s)

Even though it comes in a sealed bottle, our olive oil is the rawest, least processed food we sell. We've traveled the world to see first hand the production of this green nectar and want to share with you what we found. A famous blind taste test in 1976 resulted in a stunning victory for California wines over their French counterparts. Next on the chopping block might well be olive oil. Join us as we sample New World olive oils from California, Argentina and New Zealand against Old World powerhouses from France, Italy and Spain.

The State of Olive Oil Today

U.S. domestic sales of olive oil have grown by 20% every year for the last five years (168% increase over the last six).

U.S. regulations regarding olive oil were established in 1948 and have not been revised since.

California's olive oil production is predicted to surpass France by 2010, with production doubling in the next five years as newly planted orchards start giving fruit.

In 2004, the California Olive Oil Council (COOC) began petitioning the USDA to establish new trade standards for grades of olive oil, which could be accepted with a friendly administration in power (especially with the Speaker of the House being from California)

"The most important element of the new standards is that it will inform the consumer as to the true quality and character of the olive oil. To qualify as extra virgin, an oil must pass strict chemical analysis, as well as an objective sensory evaluation designed to ferret out defective flavors acquired during harvesting and processing." - COOC

This change will have a dramatic effect on olive oil retailers. No longer will they have most of the olive oils on their shelf displaying the words "Extra Virgin" on their label. No longer will Extra Virgin have the same ease of access for a producer as "natural," "homemade," "tastes great!" No longer will producers in other countries be able to relabel their product for United States sale using language they can't get away with in any other olive oil producing country of the world. These retailers will see the majority of their olive oils, if not all of them, changing their labels to less attractive but more accurate descriptions of the product inside.

Customers of those retailers who are already only buying an oil that says "Extra Virgin" will walk away from retailers who aren't prepared for this change and no longer have $8 extra virgin olive oils on the shelf.

Everything I'm reading about olive oil nowadays says that olive oil is poised in the position that wine was 30 years ago in the United States. Much of that change that happened in the 1970s was because of the focus that the University of California at Davis had on viniculture, reporting on which varieties grew best in which regions of California. The U of C at Davis is doing the same thing, with the same fervent push, regarding olive oil in the last few years--going so far as to bottle their own olive oil from their own trees and sell it to their students.

Retailers who take action now to educate their community about extra virgin olive oil will be able to build a base of customers who trust them and understand the cost of extra virgin olive oil and the differences among them.

I'm having a baby girl!

 

Physiology and molecular biology of taste and smell

I am now seriously gathering information for my intended new focus on every (EVERY) aspect of olive oil from dirt to mouth to brain. Do I want it to culminate in a book? Sure. Will there be many rewards among the way in the form of tastings, classes, articles, etc. Absolutely.

Three more pieces I need to explore:

The physiology of taste
The physiology of smell
Current theories of taste perception, from physiology into molecular biology

And if I really want to explore something I find I can search through this abstract summary database.

Almost all major taste theories that seem to exist have been laid forth after I graduated from college (1991). If one doesn't keep keeping up with science after leaving school, it's so easy to be left with antiquated beliefs.

Alphabetical list of 100s of people in the California Olive Oil Industry

I don't quite know what I'm going to do with this resource yet, but I have to remember it.

Alphabetical list of 100s of people in the California Olive Oil Industry

Best chemical explanation of olive oil I've seen

Chemical and Nutritional Properties of Olive Oil

The following is merely a soupçon of what exists on that page:

A Great discussion of olive oil chemistry by Guido Costa in simple terms

Herewith my contribution on FATTY ACIDS AND ACIDITY: Olive oil is composed mainly of triacylglycerols (triglycerides). Chemically speaking, these are molecules derived from the natural esterification of three fatty acid molecules with a glycerol molecule. The glycerol molecule can simplistically be seen as an "E-shaped" molecule, with the fatty acids in turn resembling longish hydrocarbon chains, varying (in the case of olive oil) from about 14 to 24 carbons atoms in length. Thus the triacylglycerols can, for our purpose, be visualized as elongated E-shaped molecules, each with three long extensions, being the three fatty acid chains "attached to each horizontal bar of the E".

Please note that we are dealing here with fatty acids forming part of the triacylglycerols molecule. They are distinct from FREE FATTY ACIDS, which we'll talk about later!

Various fatty acids are found in nature. They differ in length (number of carbon atoms in the chain) as well as in the type of chemical bonds found within the chain. Mostly these carbon-carbon bonds in the chain are "single" bonds, comprising 2 electrons shared between adjacent carbon atoms. However, in certain of the fatty acids, some of the bonds are "double bonds", where 4 electrons are shared between adjacent carbon atoms. The fatty acids that have no double bonds in their chains are called "saturated" fatty acids (all the carbons in their carbon chain are "saturated" by hydrogen atoms). Examples of saturated fatty acids are Palmitic Acid (16 carbons long), Stearic Acid (18 carbons long) and Arachidic Acid (20 carbons long). The fatty acids that have one carbon-carbon double bond somewhere along their length are called monounsaturated fatty acids (one carbon-carbon bond which is not fully saturated with hydrogens), i.e. one of the bonds available at each of 2 adjacent carbons is now used to form a double bond between themselves instead of being used to bond externally to hydrogen atoms. Examples of monounsaturated fatty acids are Palmitoleic Acid (16 carbons long) and our famous Oleic Acid (18 carbons long). Oleic acid is the most abundant fatty acid found in nature. The double bond in Oleic acid occurs in the mid position of the molecule, between carbon 9 and carbon 10.

I don't want to make this sound too complicated, but as soon as one brings a double bond into the picture, one must bear in mind that...

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey vs. Michael Pollan

The debate I was anxiously waiting for occurred, and this is from the post on The Ethicurean:

"After much angsting, my epic recap of the event just went up on the UC Berkeley NewsCenter, the highlights of which are after the jump. (The webcast just went up, too.) Sadly, across campus, even UC Berkeley journalism student Carmel Wroth long ago beat me to the punch with a funny-yet-still-informative account of last night, damn him. You can find it over at Sam Fromartz’s blog, Chews Wise.

...

Elsewhere in the blogosphere: John Birdsall from the East Bay Express posted the most scathing take yet many hours ago, and I just know he’s going to say I drank the Kool-Aid and begged for more. Becks & Posh has a factual bone to pick. Cookiecrumb for once isn’t mad, and offers some succinct takeaway. (Or should it be takeout?) Jen has a very even-handed, fair & balanced report — and links to a lot more accounts. "

Olive Oil Factory

What I find interesting about this, obviously much larger, olive oil production than Pasolivo's is how much faster the circular blades run through the mash--that's got to have an effect on how hot the mash is turning and how much flavor is being expelled from the oil before it even gets to the storage tanks.

It's one of those profit decisions versus taste decisions, I guess. One produces more oil if the machine is run faster.

I'm also fascinated by the burlap bags full of olives--I think if done properly, that could provide a gentler environment from tree to press than the large storage bins Pasolivo uses, especially if they were driven to the press on a shelving unit such that many bags weren't weighing down on each other.... hmmm... random thoughts.

New level of readership

I seem to have stumbled onto a new level of recognition on this food blog. I've been part of the Wikipedia entry on olive oil for a while now, which did give me quite a boost in readership. Recently (like yesterday, I guess) a site called Buzz Feed had an entry on Unfiltered Olive Oil on its front page and listed me as one of the 10 best links about olive oil. Woo hoo! Gave me an exponential leap in readership, I must say.

I'm flattered to say that the description of the link to me was "Everything you could possibly want to know about olive oil."

Over time, hopefully a few more categories of "Everything you could possibly want to know about [BLANK]" will be added, I just need time to research and write (and host tastings)

Thank you BuzzFeed.

Eat Fearlessly,
Solomon

Olive Oil 101 coursebook w/o addendums w/o specific examples

Click here to see all posts on this blog about olive oil

I look at the history of olive oil unromantically. So, don’t expect stories of Greek gods and goddesses and contests between Apollo and Athena. I honestly don’t care about that very much and I certainly don’t believe that many people think about that when they eat or use olive oil. I care about the history of olive oil as a way to better use and appreciate it and to add to your experience.

Understanding the path the olive tree has taken from country to country in its history has some relevance to enjoying olive oil. In seeing its path, one can see the type of environment the olive tree and its products flourish in and thus guess what countries might know a thing or two about high quality olive oil and what other countries might be able to produce olive oil. Evidence found by archaeologists and paleobotanists of the olive tree itself appears earliest in Asia Minor; pinpointing exactly where is more an invitation for argument than a rational discussion because this evidence is coming from 6000 B.C.E.

What is easier to track is how the olive tree moved and when it was cultivated on purpose—when we domesticated it and turned it from a wild tree giving fruits into a member of our garden of edible plants. 3^rd millennium B.C.E. in Crete shows the first evidence of cultivation of Olea Europea. At first, the olive tree moved as foreign occupation of other peoples and lands occurred around the Mediterranean. For example, the Venetians and the Turks invading Crete took the olive tree with them as did the Romans when they occupied Spain. The Phoenicians, who occupied colonies in present-day Lebanon and Palestine cultivated it throughout the southern Mediterranean, from Tunisia and Libya up through Morocco and Algeria. The Greeks, and eventually the Romans, cultivated it throughout the northern Mediterranean. Greece brought the first olive trees to France as a token of peace to Gaul. Modern day (i.e. last few hundred years) propagation of the tree has coincided with travel by the rich and intellectual, by university students, politicians, writers, missionaries, and business people who had money and reason to travel abroad and began to live in new places for extended periods of their lives, bringing the olive tree and its oil into butter consuming cultures.

We know much of the early history because the importance of olive oil was so great that trees and oil pots needed to be counted, thus they were part of the bureaucratic writings discovered in the Mycenaean Linear B tablets. Aristotle brought cultivation of the olive tree to a science, while Sonon (639-559 B.C.E.) put into place the first laws in regard to olive trees, stating that no more than two olive trees could be felled per year in one’s olive grove and sentencing to death anyone who purposely felled a cultivated olive tree. Olive oil was used for consumption, for trade, for cleanliness, for sports, for perfumes, and for beauty. The importance of it by religions, both pagan and Christian, can not be minimalized, with its use to anoint for many rituals, including burials. Medicinally, sixty uses of it are mentioned in the Hippokratic code, including contraception, gynecology, and dermatology. “many people outside of olive oil growing regions never saw olive oil unless it was bought from the druggist for softening earwax and other medical uses.” (California Olive Oil News)

“The facts about the nutritional properties of olive oil remain undisputed. It has been

scientifically proven that extensive consumption of olive oil reduces incidences of coronary and cardiovascular disease. It is also widely believed that the antioxidant substances such as vitamins E and K and polyphenols found in olive oil provide a defence mechanism that delays ageing and prevents carcinogenesis, atherosclerosis, liver disorders and inflammations and is well tolerated by the stomach, has a beneficial effect on gastritis and ulcers. Used as a te a, the olive leaves have a relaxing effect. As a cholagogue, it activates the secretion of pancreatic hormones and bile much more naturally than prescribed drugs, which lowers the incidence of cholelithiasis. It has a positive effect on constipation, beneficial effect on the brain and nervous system and its easy digestion promotes the overall absorption of nutrients and mineral salts.” (ELEA: Producing and Consuming Olive Oil, UN conference report, 1999)

But the history of the tree itself is perhaps less important to us culinarily then the history of agriculture and irrigation and proper methods of storage. As we began to take control of more of the 16 factors that determine the taste of an oil, we started to produce better olive oil.

Gross Simplification (though true) of How Olive Oil is Made

1. Plant or find a tree

2. Let an olive grow

3. Pick the olive

4. Remove the oil from the olive

5. Tweak the oil (blend, filter, decant, flavor, etc.)

6. Store the oil

If we take a look at how olive oil is made, we can see that as soon as the first olive tree was found, olive oil could be produced. Pluck enough olives, crush them together into a pulp with some rocks, put the pulp in a bowl and wait long enough and voila, oil, water, and solids will separate to a point that the oil can be used. If we wanted to drift to the most traditional olive oil that existed, we probably wouldn’t enjoy it very much with our modern palates. Culinarily, tradition gives way to industrial improvements when those improvements boost flavor.

“The fruit is technically a drupe with three parts; the epidermis (epicarp) which remains green throughout the growth phase then turns purple and brown when ripe, the fleshy part (mesocarp) which contains the oil and the stone or pit (endocarp) which holds the seed.” (COOC)

16 Factors that play a part in the taste of olive oil.

What the land brings to the picture

1. The Altitude

2. The Soil

   1. “The amount of water required by a tree is dependent on climate, that is, how hot and dry and windy the growing season days are to cause the plants to transpire and keep themselves from burning up with drought stress. Olives are trees that are quite drought tolerant, in that they will not die if given little water, however if given insufficient water the trees will grow very slowly (taking 30+ years to reach full size instead of 10) and the fruit will be small (only a problem for table fruit). The rooting depth of your soil is the key factor for dry farmed fruit trees. Just because someplace can be dry farmed does not mean that other sites will also work. Success (growth and production of trees) is highly dependent on how much water is stored in the soil. A good rule of thumb is that most loam soils will hold about 2 inches of water per foot of rooting depth. So if you have a hillside location with 2 feet of rooting depth you will have 4 inches of water available for those trees for the whole season. If you have a deep valley soil with 5 + feet of rooting depth you will have 10 + inches of water for the season. If we get 40 inches of rain that means that all the rest ran off. An olive tree in the coastal climate of NE Santa Rosa, will require about 12 to 18 inches of water per season to be as productive as possible, that is growing well and producing large sized table fruit. For oil the trees might get by with only 10 to 16 inches. Little or no supplemental irrigation would be required to get adequate, but not maximum growth and production, if you have a deep soil. In a shallow soil, the trees would just grow very slowly, have severe alternate bearing, the fruit would be small, there might be fruit shrivel, and the fruit if used for oil, could be quite bitter.
      
      By the way, the amount of water available for the trees is ONLY if you allow no cover crop or weeds to steal the water first. Excellent weed control is extremely important for dry farming any crop. For 4-5 trees put 6 inches wood chips under the trees out to the drip line (or at least a 6 ft. diameter circle) to smother all the weeds and hold as much moisture in as possible”

3. The Pests

   1. “If you are in an area where there is olive fly, you should pick the olives and destroy them to prevent over-wintering of the fly.”

   2. See note on grubby taste in olives

What the tree brings to the picture

4. The shape and size of the tree and the amount of trees per acre

   1. “Olive trees are propagated in California several different ways, including budding or grafting onto seedling rootstocks, leafy semi-hardwood stem cuttings, and hardwood cuttings. Less commonly used techniques locally, but somewhat more common world wide include truncheons, removing rooted suckers from the crown of the tree, and ovuli. (much content courtesy Glenn T. McGourty Plant Science Advisor and County Director UCCE Mendocino County)”

   2. “Typically you get more olives as the tree gets older, not bigger olives. Olive size has more to do with crop size, watering, etc. Thinning will get you bigger olives.”

   3. “Growers were also pruning too soon in the life of the tree. Vegetative growth is important early in the life of a tree to give it a good start. Newer recommendations are for no pruning in the first 4 years of the tree's life. Pruning is one of the most costly parts of any fruit tree operation.”

5. The variety of olive

   1. “Specific types of olives, such as the Tuscan varieties, will have higher polyphenol values. These oils are valuable in that when blended with a low polyphenol oil they will extend the shelf life by preventing rancidity.” (California Olive Oil Council)

   2. “The type of olives used for oil production may contain as much as 20% of their weight in oil. The larger varieties grown for pickling and brining often have as little as 5% oil”

   3. Specifics of this will be discussed when ads and labels are examined

6. The age of the tree

“Here is a story of reproduction without the birds and the bees. Technically, olive trees are hermaphrodites and bear both perfect flowers (containing both male and female parts) and imperfect flowers ( with only male parts).

“Some olive varieties are capable of self-pollination while others must depend on cross-pollination with different varieties. Farmers will place "pollinator" trees in an orchard to ensure successful pollination and a good crop when the main variety is self-incompatible. Even self-compatible cultivars fruit better with a "foreign" pollinator.

“Like other life which is propagated sexually, an olive tree will have traits common to both the male and female tress which were its progenitors. If it self-pollinates, then the olive seed produced will be similar to the tree it fell off of. Olive pollen can drift in the wind for miles, so if the olive is the result of cross-pollination from a different varietal, the seed will produce a tree with mixed traits. Simply put, the fruit from your seedlings which sprout all over may be different from each other even though they came off the same tree. They should all bear fruit.

“Because of this uncertainty with seedlings, olives are propagated by cloning cuttings from the same tree.”

What the specific year brings

7. The amount of rainfall

8. The amount of sunshine

9. The temperature of the season

10. The humidity of the season

What the harvester brings

11. The method of picking

    1. “Olives are picked by hand by rapidly drawing the fingers or a rake along the branches, quickly stripping the fruit off into nets or a bucket or with pneumatic rakes onto nets. The fruit separates where it will. You cannot possibly expect to pick each olive individually to determine where it might separate from the tree.” (COOC)

12. The time spent off the tree before pressing

13. The ripeness of the olives

    1. “Most olives picked earlier in the year will have more polyphenols. Olives picked later in the winter have fewer polyphenols and a more mellow taste. Polyphenol concentrations increase with fruit growth until the olives begin to turn purple then begins to decrease. Years ago farmers valued the more mellow taste and tried to wait to pick their olives but risked freezing or loss to the elements. Now the strong earlier harvest taste has become popular.” (COOC)

What the presser brings

14. The method of removing the oil

    1. “Much is made of how the type of olive oil machinery will affect the flavor of extra virgin oil but in reality if used properly it has only a small influence. Extra virgin olive oil is made the same way with the same machinery in the US as in Italy. Only a tiny percent of the oil sold in the US is made in the US and is mostly artisanal extra virgin oil which is high in phenols.” (COOC)

    2. “Most of the olive oil consumed in the US comes from Spain and Italy, and is usually refined. These mass market oils are generally refined and low in phenols.” (COOC)

    3. “Refining takes olive oil which has already been made but which is old, rancid, was made from diseased olives or has some other sort of defect and makes it palatable. This is done by filtering, charcoal treatment, heating, and chemical treatment to adjust acidity. Refined oils are lower in tyrosol and other phenols. According to Wayne Emmons at Intertech, Extra Virgin Olive oil typically has 50-80 ppm polyphenols while refined oil has only 5 ppm.”

    4. “Polyphenols and other primarily water soluble components make the olive [fruit] bitter. When the oil is separated from the paste, the bitter substances are left behind in the fruit water and pulp.”

    5. There is about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (and about 120 calories) in: 40 small ripe black olives, 20 jumbo ripe black olives, 7 super colossal ripe black olives. 1 liter = 67 tablespoons so 1 liter of olive oil: 2680 small, 1340 jumbo, 469 super colossal. The average tree produces 33 to 44 pounds of olives per year. Olives weigh an average of 3.51 ± 0.49 grams, so an average tree has about 23,880 olives or 8.91 liters for a small bearing tree, 17.82 liters for a jumbo bearing tree, and 50.92 liters for a super colossal bearing tree, with a lot of leeway from tree to tree.

    6. “When oil was primarily produced with hydraulic presses, the pit fragments were important in keeping the olive paste on the mats. Today most large oil producers use centrifugal machinery and the pit provides no particular advantage or disadvantage to the processing.
       
       There are olive oil companies which pit the olives before extracting the oil. They claim a better tasting oil but in California these oils have not distinguished themselves in blind competitions such as the L.A. county fair.” (COOC)

What the aftermarket brings

15. The method of storage (before and after bottling)

    1. “As oil sits in storage tanks or the bottle, the polyphenols will slowly be oxidized and used up. If you want an oil with more polyphenols, buy one that displays a date guaranteeing that it is fresh and that has been stored properly.”

    2. “Like most fruit, olives have waxes on their epidermis (epicarp) to protect them from insects, desiccation and the elements. These natural waxes are what allow an apple to be shined. If an oil is sent to a cold climate or will be used in a product like salad dressing where it will be stored in the refrigerator, it is often "winterized". The oil is chilled and filtered to remove the waxes and stearates. A standard test to determine if olive oil has been sufficiently winterized is to put it in an ice water bath (32 degree F) for 5 hours. No clouding or crystals should occur. Oil which has not been winterized will clump and form needle-like crystals at refrigerator temperatures as the longer chain fats and waxes in the oil congeal, but the oil will not usually harden completely unless chilled further. Some olive varieties form waxes which produce long thin crystals, others form waxes which congeal into rosettes, slimy clumps, clouds, a swirl of egg white like material, or white sediment which the consumer may fear represents spoilage. These visual imperfections may form outside the refrigerator during the winter when oil is exposed to cold temperatures during transport. Chilling or freezing olive oil does no harm and the oil will return to its normal consistency when warmed. The ideal temperature to store olive oil to reduce oxidation but to avoid clouding is around 50 degrees F.”

    3. “It is a source of great irritation to the U.S. olive oil industry that our government does not have much at all in the way of labeling laws concerning olive oil. U.S. producers have come up with our own label - The COOC seal; which follows international olive oil council grading guidelines. Producers are encouraged to also date their oil, although few do and there is no standard dating code. Look on the label for a date. Remember that most olives are picked in the late fall or winter and are sold the next year, so 2002 oil will be the freshest available until early 2004 when 2003 oil will come on the market.
       
       Shelf life is very variable, depending on the olive variety, ripeness when pressed, care in processing, filtering, etc. It also depends on storage after it has left the producer, something they have no control of, so it is hard to "guarantee" a certain lifespan.
       
       Lifespan can be as little as 3 months for an unfiltered late harvest olive bottled in clear glass and sold off a supermarket shelf above hot deli foods which is then stored by the consumer in bright light on a hot stovetop with the cap unscrewed. It can be as much as 3-4 years for an early harvest, high polyphenol containing olive variety which has been filtered then packaged in a well sealed tin or dark bottle then stored in a cool dark place by the grocer and consumer.” (COOC)

16. The age of the oil

    1. “A two year old olive oil may taste rancid to some while others don't mind it. Most people would be put off by the taste of any vegetable oil more than 4-5 years old. Rancid oil has fewer antioxidants but is not poisonous. A good percentage of the world's population routinely eat rancid oil because of lack of proper storage conditions and some actually prefer the taste. In historical times olives which had dropped to the ground or which may have spoiled were made into olive oil which was stored in open-mouthed earthenware vats. Practices like these encouraged rancidity. People have come to expect non-rancid oil in the past 50 years because of chemical refining and better production and storage methods.” (COOC)

Let’s talk labels. We’re going to examine 2 ads and 2 labels, identifying the key points and how they relate to the 16 factors. This is where discussion of a few examples of specific varieties will occur, as well as introduction of PDO and PGI designations.

Light

“Oils labeled as "lite" or "light" refer to flavor, not caloric content, as all vegetable oils have the same amount of calories. Theoretically "light" could refer to an excellent extra virgin oil made from olives picked late in the year but usually it signifies a flavorless low quality (refined) oil from Italy or Spain.” (COOC)

Polyphenols

If you want an oil high in polyphenols, pick one that is guaranteed to be extra virgin (has the COOC seal if produced in the US), is from the current harvest season and that has been properly stored. Some varieties have high polyphenols; Frantoio, Lucca, etc.

Cooking and Uses

Baking

“You could bake with just about any olive oil. Use a mellow oil for a sweeter taste or try a pungent Tuscan style oil for a bread with more of an Italian character.” (COOC)

Cooking

“Olive oil is a great oil for cooking. Strong flavored olive oils can be used for frying fish or other strong flavored ingredients. A mellow late harvest Mission variety oil could be used in baking a cake. Olive oil has a high smoke point, 410 degrees F, and doesn't degrade as quickly as many other oils do with repeated high heating. Use a variety of healthy vegetable oils when preparing food and incorporate a good extra virgin olive oil when you want its health benefits and wonderful Mediterranean flavor…. Polyphenols are stubborn substances which do not degrade easily with heat. You cannot refine oil by heating on the stove. ” (Charles Quest-Ritson)

“The conventional wisdom is that soft, gentle oils are best light-flavored foods because stronger flavors can overwhelm the taste of the oil so that only its texture remains perceptible.” “ (Charles Quest-Ritson)

DESCRIBING OLIVE OIL

The major tastes of olive oil

“The delicate flavor of quality extra virgin olive oil is related to the presence of a large number of chemical compounds. These flavor compounds comprise aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, aliphatic and triterpenic alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, esters, furan and thiophene derivatives. Over 100 such compounds have been identified which, as a whole, contribute to the distinctive organoleptic characteristics which make extra virgin olive oil so select. These aroma compounds form part of the unsaponifiable fraction, which makes up about 1% of the oil. These tastes and fragrances derive from compounds like hexanal (green, grassy), trans-2-hexenal (green, bitter), 1-hexanol and 3-methylbutan-1-ol, which are the major volatile compounds of olive oil. Many of these flavor compounds decompose if temperatures during milling exceed 30°C. Thus the importance of “cold pressing”. “ (COOC)

“Many studies have been done to try to predict a flavor profile based on an oil's chemistry. In "The Handbook of Olive Oil" by Harwood and Arapicio they cite studies done by the authors which show that aglycons are responsible for the bitter and pungent sensory attribute, as well as tyrosol and possibly alpha-tocopherol. The phenols are related to astringent attributes. It is probably the combination of bitterness and astringency that causes the cough.” (COOC)

The largest determinants of olive oil flavor are variety of olive and time of harvest.

Positive aspects

Fruity

1. fresh tasting, like fruits or vegetables. Lively & attractive

Bitter

1. Usually felt on the back of the tongue and the throat.

2. “hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol are some of the many phenol compounds in olive oil that contribute to bitter taste, astringency, and resistance to oxidation.” (COOC)

Pepperiness

1. Hot sensation associated with modern oils pressed from immature olives (may even induce one to cough). Often not sensed immediately, but in the aftertaste of the oil. – “Gary Beauchamp and other chemists published a September 1, 2005 article in Nature which shows that Oleocanthol, the pungent compound in some oils which creates a stinging sensation in the throat, has similar properties to anti-inflammatory compounds such as ibuprofen.” (COOC)

Tactile sensations (e.g. throat-catching, astringent, metallic, peppery)

Simple taste sensations (sweet or bitter (don’t really have salty or sour))

More complex positive tastes (grassy [characteristic of young oils made from semimature olives], artichoke, green apple, green banana, tomato, green tea, beans, avocado, guava, cinnamon, pepper, almond [associated with oils made from fully ripe olives], toasted almond, pine nut [most oils acquire a nutty taste as they age], catty, malt, butter

Direct aroma (floral, perfumed, confectionery)

Negative sensations (rancid [result of oxidation. Put some oil in a glass for a week on a sunny windowsill to recognize this], winey/vinegary [caused by anaerobic fermentation of the olives], musty [caused by bacteria and fungi infecting badly stored olives], muddy [oil will turn putrid when the sediment left in it begins to decay], flat [caused by heating the paste during processing], dirty [oil taken from olives that have fallen to the ground], metallic [from contact with metals], grubby [a dirtiness associated with olives infested with olive-fly larvae, a common failing in badly managed groves]) (from Charles Quest-Ritson)

Exercise for the class: Associate defects in the olive oil to the factors among the 16 that causes them.

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