The harvesting of olives is complex due to the delicate nature of the olive. In order for olive oil to be classified extra virgin, the olives must be carefully removed from the trees so the olive oil produced remains at its premium.

What is the difference between an early and late harvest?
An early harvest is the removal of green or unripe olives, producing a robust or punchy EVOO. A late harvest is the removal of ripe olives (black) producing a sweet and mild EVOO.

All varieties ripen at different times so by picking the olives at varying stages of ripeness, the resulting oil can be blended for taste. Our 2005-2006 harvest has been picked to produce a mild oil so it can be used liberally in all styles of cooking.

The Process of Pressing Olives
Once the olives are carefully removed from the trees, they are quickly taken to the press while they are at their best. Any sticks and leaves are removed and the olives are washed. They are then crushed and tumbled around so that the oil separates and all water is removed by centrifuge. The yield of oil from the olives varies according to variety and ripeness. We hope for about 23%.

In order to give you fresher, first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil we are now pressing our olives at our grove with a Pieralisi Press all the way from Italy.

What does it mean by first cold pressed?
All extra virgin olive oil is first cold pressed otherwise it can’t be called extra virgin.

The Growers (Ro & Steve)

The Eastern Grove

The Olive Flower, Harvester, Hopper

The Press