How do we produce such fabulous oil?
Thanks for asking..
We grow the olives in the Waiwera valley.
We harvest at the beginning of winter before the first frost. Sometimes around ANZAC day, sometimes a few weeks later.
We take the olive to Simunovich (otherwise known as Bracu) in Bombay. They have a huge olive grove and press olives for other small growers like us.
Cold pressed? Yes. Because olives ripen so late, basically because we are a wee bit cooler than their native environment, the nights are cold and the days are cool. So the fruit stays fresh post harvest, for a day. We get it to the press at the end of the day and the fruit is crushed within 24 hours of harvest.
So back to the question. Cold pressed? Yes. Not heated.
The modern process is not a press. It is actually a giant food processor just like in your kitchen. Whirling blades smash the fruit into a pulp. The pulp is stirred and then fed in to an elutriating centrifuge. It is a continuous process, not a batch process. This separates the solids/oil/water.
Then it is left in batches in stainless steel vats to settle. The press/food processor operator has a knack of knowing when one persons batch is finishing and another is starting. Timing and the each batch is always slightly different colour.
The oil settles for four months before Simunovich bottle it for us. Sediment goes to the bottom and the oil is decanted.
In my experience, it is not easy to make lousy oil in NZ. Something to do with the cool nights when we eventually harvest. I have had ours tested and in terms of virgin/extra virgin it romps in. So I actually stopped testing.
The taste test is the ultimate test.
There are things we do in terms of managing the trees and the harvest and post harvest to maintain good quality.
Our trees are fed sea weed collected from Hatfield s and Waiwera beaches, and mulch from local aborists.
At harvest some local friends and family all pitch in to get all the fruit off the trees before dusk so we can get it to Bombay. Sometimes it is about a tonne. Out best year was four tonnes in two harvests. Our harvesters are aware of not trampling on the fruit on the ground, they remove most of the wood and leaves, then treat the fruit gently to avoid bruising.
The two varieties we grow are Leccino and Frantoio. Sometimes they ripen six weeks apart. Then we have to harvest twice!
You are welcome to help harvest. Your pay is a very very nice dinner with some lovely people and a 750ml bottle of fresh oil!
Thanks for asking.
We harvest at the beginning of winter before the first frost. Sometimes around ANZAC day, sometimes a few weeks later.
We take the olive to Simunovich (otherwise known as Bracu) in Bombay. They have a huge olive grove and press olives for other small growers like us.
Cold pressed? Yes. Because olives ripen so late, basically because we are a wee bit cooler than their native environment, the nights are cold and the days are cool. So the fruit stays fresh post harvest, for a day. We get it to the press at the end of the day and the fruit is crushed within 24 hours of harvest.
So back to the question. Cold pressed? Yes. Not heated.
The modern process is not a press. It is actually a giant food processor just like in your kitchen. Whirling blades smash the fruit into a pulp. The pulp is stirred and then fed in to an elutriating centrifuge. It is a continuous process, not a batch process. This separates the solids/oil/water.
Then it is left in batches in stainless steel vats to settle. The press/food processor operator has a knack of knowing when one persons batch is finishing and another is starting. Timing and the each batch is always slightly different colour.
The oil settles for four months before Simunovich bottle it for us. Sediment goes to the bottom and the oil is decanted.
In my experience, it is not easy to make lousy oil in NZ. Something to do with the cool nights when we eventually harvest. I have had ours tested and in terms of virgin/extra virgin it romps in. So I actually stopped testing.
The taste test is the ultimate test.
There are things we do in terms of managing the trees and the harvest and post harvest to maintain good quality.
Our trees are fed sea weed collected from Hatfield s and Waiwera beaches, and mulch from local aborists.
At harvest some local friends and family all pitch in to get all the fruit off the trees before dusk so we can get it to Bombay. Sometimes it is about a tonne. Out best year was four tonnes in two harvests. Our harvesters are aware of not trampling on the fruit on the ground, they remove most of the wood and leaves, then treat the fruit gently to avoid bruising.
The two varieties we grow are Leccino and Frantoio. Sometimes they ripen six weeks apart. Then we have to harvest twice!
You are welcome to help harvest. Your pay is a very very nice dinner with some lovely people and a 750ml bottle of fresh oil!
Thanks for asking.
A little more story...
I am sure you will be aware of the terrible weather the greater Auckland region has experienced in 2023. Basically it rained from November 2022 to November 2023. Seriously. I think there were about twenty days when there was not some sort of rain.
As
a result the soil became saturated and stayed that way for
eleven months. The roots literally drowned. We have lost
about twenty percent of our productive olive trees. Several
other fruit trees and some productive flower beds simply
washed away. As did a lot of the seaweed we harvest and
place around all the trees as fertiliser. Some trees are
recovering well, some are dead, and some will take a little
longer.
This story has been repeated in may places on many farms and orchards throughout the upper north island and East Cape.
This is our road on Jan 27 2023
This story has been repeated in may places on many farms and orchards throughout the upper north island and East Cape.
This is our road on Jan 27 2023
2 metre deep and moving at about 30km/hr.