What are the secrets to a good extra-virgin olive oil? And how much does the moment of harvesting affect the final taste? Let’s find out along with La Cucina Italiana's Cooking School advice.
It all depends on the fields
The variables behind an extra-virgin olive oil are many – plus, they can’t be translated into simple numbers. Like all-natural products, the result depends on variables that man cannot always control. Every blend master knows this, having learned how to choose the proper degrees of ripeness for each olive to determine the aroma and flavor of varying extra-virgin olive oils. In fact, the same olive can vary greatly depending on when it is harvested and how the subsequent processing is handled. For this reason, it is very important to start by choosing the harvest period with careful attention: The final product depends greatly on this.
The four phases of olive ripening
First of all, it is necessary to know and know how to recognize the four phases of the olive ripening process: the herbaceous stage, veraison, completely ripe, and overripe.
The herbaceous stage begins during the summer, although this factor depends on the climate of the year and the area of cultivation. In the first stage of ripening, the olive has a bright green color and a hard flesh that contains little oil. At the beginning of the veraison stage, which generally arrives in mid-October, the olive becomes larger and more tender, rich in oil and purple in color. The olives harvested at the beginning of this stage in ripening produce an oil rich in precious antioxidant substances and polyphenols with characteristic notes of fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency – an oil very different from the oil obtained at the end of the veraison stage when the olives feature an intensely violet skin. In fact, more mature olives make for a sweeter oil. Just be careful; beyond a certain degree of ripening, the dark brown olives begin to detach from the branches and fall to the ground, lending itself to the degradation of enzyme and contact with harmful microorganisms, which is not exactly good if you’re looking for quality oil.
Harvesting
The olive harvest starts between the end of August and the beginning of September. As we have already seen, the right degree of ripening for the olive will affect the taste of the resulting oil – but what other factors should we take into account when it comes to harvesting? Starting with a good olive tree, it is essential to take the olives to a cleaned mill for immediate pressing.