Olivery News — ready to pick

This frequently asked question is often answered with another question....what do you want to do with your olives? Eat or Oil?   The rule is the eating olives (table olives) are picked first, while the flesh is still strong so that it will not soften during the natural fermentation, which lasts up to 8 months. Oil olives are picked later, so that the oil has maximum time to accumulate in the olive prior to pressing. The next question:  where are you? Northland start picking in March, Otago in June, and anywhere in between is in between! Ripeness determines the time to...

Check out these olives!  This picture of the Manzanillo olives on the trees in the Villa grove.  They are huge! Its been a fantastic growing season this year.  We've had healthy trees and low rainfall - a drought in fact!   Looking to harvest in a week or so, around the 6th of May. Interesting how the olives are green and black right next to each other.