2017 olive harvest and oil production

We have 14 trees, 8 small and 6 large.  They are in our Upper Garden and the Olive Grove near the swimming pool.  They produce olives one year and miss the next year so we harvest every other year.

Our olive trees are not treated with pesticides or fertilisers to ensure the purity of the oil.  We harvest in early December to obtain the best oil quality.  When you harvest early the volume of oil in each olive is small but it is of the highest quality.  The later you harvest, the larger the volume of oil but with diminished quality.  So our oil is "extra virgin".  Later harvests are labelled "virgin" and then simply "olive oil".

We do not mix our olives with olives from other estates when we go to the press to produce the oil so our oil is guaranteed to be from Paraíso Rural (Rural Paradise) and therefore single estate, that is not blended with the oil of other producers.

The olives are cold pressed to preserve the integrity and quality of the oil.  This is considered the best way of producing the oil.

In summary, Paraíso Rural produces single estate, organic, extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, the best you can get!

The photo on the right is a bottle of our oil perched in one of the large trees in the Olive Grove.

Harvesting in the upper garden

Harvesting in the upper garden

Harvesting in the olive grove near the swimming pool

Harvesting in the olive grove near the swimming pool with Summer House in the background

Olives harvested in the upper garden ready for sacking

Olives harvested in the olive grove ready for sacking

Sacks of olives awaiting their turn to go into the hopper at the olive oil mill

Pouring olives into the hopper

Olives loaded into the hopper ready for the mill

Olives leaving hopper via conveyor belt enroute to the press

Final weight of the olives, 953 kgs

First oil emerging from the press. This is organic extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, the best you can get!