This year we started picking on 5 October, earlier than we ever have. It was a bit of a gamble. The greener the olive, the less oil it gives, and we honestly weren’t sure what we’d end up with. So when the lab results came back, we read them twice.
“It’s really good” doesn’t tell you much, so here are the two numbers that made us happiest, and what they actually mean.
Acidity: 0.218%. Acidity isn’t something you can taste. A low-acidity oil doesn’t taste “less sour.” It is, though, one of the most honest signs of care: it shows how healthy the fruit was and how quickly it went from tree to mill. To be called extra virgin, an oil has to stay below 0.8%. Ours came in at 0.218%, the lowest we’ve recorded in recent years. It took roughly three days from picking to the oil being sealed in the can, and we think that shows.
Polyphenols: 662 mg/kg. Polyphenols are olive oil’s natural antioxidants. They give early harvest oil its bitterness and that peppery catch at the back of the throat, the one that makes people cough the first time they try it. Last year’s Early Harvest came in around 600 mg/kg. This year’s is the highest of any Yapapi oil so far.
For a sense of scale: under EU rules, an olive oil may state that “olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress” only above a set threshold, equivalent to 250 mg/kg. The benefit comes from a daily intake of 20 g of olive oil, about one and a half tablespoons.
Numbers aren’t everything. Olive oil is judged on the plate. But it’s good to see that picking early, for less oil and more work, was worth it.
👉 Taste this year’s Early Harvest
First Quack, First Press.
The Yapapi team