Best Quality Glenlee Olio Nuovo

The start of the autumn olive harvest will bring a distinctly Italian flavour to Macro Wholefoods Markets this year.

Olive Grower and Glenlee Olio Nuovo producer David Wilson says he stumbled across this unique processing technique while he and his wife were traveling around Italy. "We visited during harvest season and couldn't help but notice that the delicatessens all had signs out on the footpath advertising the fresh new oil or 'Olio Nuovo' that had just been pressed. To our knowledge this has not been done to any scale in Australia and as this new oil has such unusual characteristics we thought we should try it here."

Olio Nuovo is made by pressing the olives before they are fully ripened. And the result? David explains, "Olio Nuovo is a vivid iridescent deep green colour with a rich firm palate and a wonderfully pungent hot peppery finish. It exhibits a complex fruity aroma reminiscent of freshly cut grass building to a climax of rich olive flavour. Olio Nuovo is unique oil but when added to hot winter soups such as ribollita, drizzled over bruschetta or roasted vegetables or simply added to a pasta sauce it becomes a culinary experience. The pepperiness and pungency comes from the polyphenols which are in abundance in fruit that has not fully ripened. Arguably, as it is high in the antioxidant compounds that give extra virgin olive oil its health giving properties, it is better for you but this is more to do with logic and chemistry than proven fact."

Deb Cooksey, Macro Wholefoods Merchandise Manager says, "Basically David came to see me and I was impressed with his operation and passion for olive oil so I decided to give this small grower a chance. I have also noticed that customers are interested in variety and love to have a choice. There are some other olive growers who bottle a first pressing too such as Joseph's in South Australia."

Regarding production, David says, "The traditional way of processing is to crush the olives under a stone wheel and then spread the paste onto mats and using pressure extract the oil from the paste. Unfortunately this does not provide the best quality oil as the process takes up to one and a half hours and the olive oil is oxidising whilst it is exposed to the atmosphere for this time. Virtually all the olive presses now sold in the Mediterranean and Australia are centrifugal extraction plants which perform this task more efficiently and quickly and provide better quality oil. Our centrifugal processing plant is on location at the farm which enables us to harvest and process the olives the same day. In reality what we harvest in the morning is already processed and in tanks protected by a blanket of Argon by midday. This means that the oil is fresh as the olives have not had time to start to decompose once they are harvested. Olives left lying around will go rancid quite quickly so the quicker they are processed the better.

"We also do not add water to our press. Whilst washing the fresh olive paste with hot water will increase the quantity of oil extracted, the resulting product will be degraded to some extent by the hot water. The heat increases the actions of lipases and enzymes in the olive oil which accelerates the oxidation of the oil with the development of some 'off' flavour," say David.

RRP $12.95 / 250ml.

Glenlee Olio Nuova is available from Macro Wholefoods Markets. For further information, please visit: www.macrowholefoods.com.au or www.glenleeolives.com.au

More from Glenlee Olive Grove

The traditional way of processing olives is to crush them under a stone wheel and then spread the paste onto mats and use pressure to extract the oil from the paste.

Unfortunately this does not provide the best quality oil as the process takes up to one and a half hours and the olive oil is oxidising whilst it is exposed to the atmosphere. Virtually all the olive presses now being sold in the Mediterranean and Australia are centrifugal extraction plants which perform this task more efficiently and quickly and provide a better quality oil. Our centrifugal processing plant is situated at the farm which enables us to harvest and process the olives the same day. What we harvest in the morning is already processed and in tanks protected by a blanket of Argon gas by midday. This means that the oil is extremely fresh as the olives have not had time to start to decompose once they are harvested. Olives lefty lying around will go rancid quite quickly so the quicker they are processed the better.

We also do not use added water in our press. Washing the fresh olive paste with hot water will increase the quantity of oil extracted but that oil will be degraded to some extent by the hot water. The heat increases the actions of lipases and enzymes in the olive which accelerates the oxidation of the oil with the development of some 'off' flavours.

When my wife and I visited Italy in 2004 during the harvest season we noted that the delicatessens al had signs on the street advertising the fresh new oil or 'Olio Nuovo'. To our knowledge this has not been done to any scale in Australia and as this new oil has such unusual characteristics we thought we should market this type of oil here. To maintain 'truth' in advertising we only have the product available for sale from May until July at which time we take back and credit the stores with any unsold stock. Obviously once the oil is four or five months old it is no longer 'new'. We hand pick the olives in April before they are fully ripe and high in polypheols to give us an oil that exhibits the freshness and characters of an Olio Nuovo.

Olio Nuovo has a yellow/green colour with a rich firm palate and a warm peppery finish. It exhibits a complex fruity aroma reminiscent of freshly cut grass building to a climax of rich olive flavour. Olio Nuovo is a unique oil but when added to hot winter soups such as minestrone, roasted vegetables, drizzled on bruschetta or simply added to a pasta sauce it becomes a culinary experience. Arguably, as it is high in polyphenols which are the main anti-oxidants that gives extra virgin olive oil its health giving properties, so it's better for you.

www.glenleeolives.com.au