Hello, my little candle in the wind!
Today we are learning something useful. Something you can use at your home dinner, be a smarty, it’s sexy. We’ll make learning easy and fun. You will absorb the information like Winston Churchill absorbed his bottle of Champagne (Pol Roger). Are you ready? Today, we are learning about the most planted and used olive oil varieties in the world (and one local hipster olive, because why not)!
Olive oil is an essential part of your kitchen. Whether you fry, roast, make salad or dough, you need your olive oil! We use it in large amounts and thank the Olympian gods for that! But rarely we ask ourselves about the technology behind it, heck, we don’t even know the most planted olive oil varieties in the world. We’ll change this really fast, and to be honest, their names sound like someone’s making love to your ear. Grrrrrr! Forget about Chardonnay and Cabernet (we’ll don’t, rather pour one good glass for me too) and learn about Leccino, Pendolino, Picual …
Where does your olive oil come from?
First, we need to know where your olive tree comes from. The main producing regions all need that fine Mediterranean climate, they just feel good in it, I mean who wouldn’t? But also, they need changing seasons, so replanting the Sahara Desert with olive trees will not work. But then again, you’re the boss, if you feel like it, do it, I won’t judge. The main oil producing countries are Spain, Greece, Italy, Tunisia, Portugal, the US (California) and others (no Germany, for now at least).
The most planted varieties
If you we’re an olive oil farmer, you would want the best olive oil in large quantities to sell, right? We’ll that’s what everyone is searching in quality olive oil varieties. They need to get the best oil every single year. Some mass market olive oil varieties like Picual (Spain), have very high yields, and much oil in one olive, and therefore produce large quantities of (mostly cheap) olive oil. Other fancy varieties like Pendolino (Italy) have small size olives, and often produce rich olive oils of good quality. The most planted olive and common olive oil varieties are: Picual (Spain), Cornicabra (Spain), Koroneiki (Greece), Kalamata (Greece), Leccino (Italy) and Pendolino (Italy). The vast amount of olive trees in the world are those.
The varieties
Picual
It’s the number one olive in the world (and Spain of course). Picual is like the Terminator olive, he’s big, he’s black (well his jacket is) and you can’t kill him (the oil produced is highly stable). Just as the Terminator, Picual is somewhat resistant to higher temperatures and oxidation and therefore it’s really suited for cooking (on lower temperatures, of course). It’s mostly mass production material, you can be sure he’ll be back!
Cornicabra
It’s the number two olive in Spain. The name comes from the curved shape of the fruit, resembling a goat horn (I guess it’s a Tenacious D-good vs. evil-epic guitar solo-heavy metal- sort of olive variety). It produces good extra-virgin olive oils (or EVOO), but still large production, and mostly olive oils that are not EVOO’s.
Leccino
Here comes the Italian, “mi scusi”, here comes Leccino! He’s an allrounder, very adaptable and therefore spread across the world (just like the Italians). Olive oils are somewhat like wine (or grapes) when harvested. When they are harvested early, they often have fresh, green, herbaceous, apple, citrus like aromas. On the other side, when they’re harvested later, they become sweeter and softer. This is very true for the Leccino olive, EVVO’s picked earlier are really spicy, green, bitter and herbaceous, just like my life so far (just kiddin’ it’s not green or herbaceous).
Pendolino
It’s somewhat similar to Leccino and planted across Tuscany and Central Italy. The olive is small in size and of good quality. So are also the EVOO’s produced from this variety. Therefore, it’s planted in many olive gardens and plantings across the globe.
Oblica
This one is a hipster. There are a lot, I mean a lot, of olive oil varieties in the world, with new ones to arise every year. It wouldn’t be nice to leave out those little cute hipster olives from our list. Therefore, here is the hipster from Croatia, Oblica. The name comes from its round shape, and it’s domestic to the Adria. You will not find it ever in your lifetime, but hey, you heard of it, right?
There it is my little candles. We learned the most planted olive oil varieties in the world. Next time you buy your oil, read the label, pretend it’s the thousand bucks Pinot Noir, and read everything on it. Where it came from, what’s the variety, who made it, how they made it! The first step of being a cool gastronomy hipster is to read the products you’re buying. We are here to help with information, and as always, my little candle in the wind, sharing is caring! Share or don’t because you are one special little olive!
