How  Olive Oil is Harvested and Extracted

Traditionally Hand Harvested (Friendly for the Olives and for the Olive Tree), as opposed to Mechanical Harvest which hurts trees with an aggressive harvesting method, as it’s the case  in Spain,  Italy, Greece…etc.

>> Olives are moved from the field immediately to the Press : The Best Olive oil is obtained by pressing the olives that have been harvested the same day. This way the olives are not oxidized and the output in Olive oil is just the best you can have.  Our Press is in the middle of Olive Fields.

>> Our Olive Oil is 1st Cold Pressed. The olives stay inside stalls, waiting their turn, like small, black mountains. When their time comes, the fruits enter the mill and are crushed by the stone to a paste that will be pressed into oil. The oil-water mixture exiting the press is separated by gravity. We do not use Heat (which increases quantity but decreases quality of the Olive Oil). We cold press our Olives for the Best Possible Olive Oil. This results in low acidity and low PV of our Olive Oil.

3. Chemical Analysis for  EVOO, :

>> Olive Oil from Tunisia has a low and Stable Acidity (0.3% Acidity, Δ K < 0.01). An elevated level of FFA can indicate poor quality or mishandled fruit, too much time between harvesting and extraction, poor storage and/or high temperature during extraction.
>> Low Peroxide Value (10.70) . Peroxides are primary oxidation products that are formed when oils are exposed to oxygen causing defective flavors and odors. Primary measurement of rancidity in oil. Higher peroxide levels indicate oxidized and/or poor quality oil & give an idea of the freshness & storage conditions.

>> Low Level of UV Absorption means High Quality of Olive Oil not oxidized (K270 < 0.112 ; K232 < 1.88) . Secondary measurement of rancidity in oil. Elevated levels of UV absorption indicate oxidized and/or poor quality oil, possible refining and/or adulteration with refined oil.

>> Higher than 55% percentage of Oleic Acid results in longer shelf life of the Olive Oil (Ours is 59.13%).