The Liquid Gold: Spain's Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In Spain, Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), also known as liquid gold, is as much a staple in every Spanish kitchen as sugar or salt. There is not a single Spanish recipe that does not begin or end with the addition of extra virgin olive oil.

Spanish consumers are also very demanding when it comes to the quality of their olive oil and, knowing how Spanish olive oils are controlled, they love the national product. It will be very difficult to convince them to try another country’s EVOO. In fact, it is quite difficult to convince a Spaniard to use any other type of oil or cooking fat.

History of Olive Growing in Spain

The oldest archaeological evidence of olive trees in Spain is around 12,000 years old and was found on the coast of Málaga. However, systematic olive cultivation was introduced by the Phoenicians around 1100 BC. That is about 3100 years ago! It was during the Roman period (starting around 200 BC) that olive cultivation really flourished and expanded in Hispania, establishing many of the groves and techniques that would form the basis of Spain’s olive industry.

The subsequent Muslim period (8th to 15th centuries AD) saw further refinement and expansion of olive cultivation techniques. The Arabic word for oil, “az-zait”, became the Spanish word “aceite”. But it is only in the last 50 years that the production of olive oil has been refined to meet the quality standards that Spaniards demand.

Today, the olive oil sector is a cornerstone of Spanish food production, and Spain is the undisputed world leader in olive oil production, producing 70% of the total EU production and 45% worldwide. The majority of Spanish olive oil is produced in the province of Jaen, to the point that the production of Jaen alone is greater than the entire production of the United States.

The production process

The production of a great extra virgin olive oil begins with the harvest. The olives are carefully picked between late fall and early winter. In Spain, both traditional hand picking and modern mechanical methods are used, depending on the terrain and the producer. Most of the olive production comes from small farms run by families for generations, that would prefer hand-picking, while larger companies may use mechanical means.

When thinking about olive oil, we can say that it is “olive juice”, and of course, depending on the maturity of the olive, you will have a different kind of juice. Unripened olives are very green and small. They produce what is called “early harvest” olive oil, with a very intense flavor and nuanced and rich notes, but in small quantities. Mature olives are larger and produce a more sweet olive oil, with pepper and spice, depending on the variety of olive and the part of Spain where the olives come from.

Speed is crucial in transportation after harvesting. Olives are transported quickly to the mill, ideally within 24 hours of harvesting, and for the production of premium extra virgin olive oil, transportation to the mill is almost immediate.

In the past, families would pile up their harvested olives and transport them all together after a few days when the harvest was complete. This was found to cause flavor defects and also acidity – the presence of free fatty acids that cannot be detected by tasting the oil, but will show up in laboratory tests. Olive oil with an acidity above 2 degrees can be toxic and is not suitable for human consumption.

At the mill (called almazara in Spanish) the production process begins. Leaves and twigs are removed, and the olives are washed to remove any impurities. These are usually dust and insects, as olive growing is very traditional and little or no chemical products are used, even if they are not declared organic.

The clean olives are crushed into a paste, including the stones. This releases the oil from the fruit’s cells, creating a paste that is then slowly mixed to allow small oil droplets to coalesce into larger ones, making extraction easier. To separate the oil from the paste and water, modern facilities typically use centrifuges. The final steps are the decanting and filtering of the oil, which is left to settle in tanks to allow the separation of any remaining water and particles. Some producers choose to filter their oil for a clearer appearance, but it depends more on the choice of the producer and the preferences of the consumers to which the oil is considered.

Finally, the oil is stored in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature to preserve its quality until bottling. Since extra virgin olive oil is a delicate product that deteriorates quickly when exposed to sunlight and heat, good quality olive oil is bottled in small batches.

As you can see, the production of extra virgin olive oil requires extreme care and any oversight will show up in the final result, in the form of flavour defects that will cause the oil to not qualify as extra virgin olive oil, or in the appearance of acidity. Of course, delaying the transportation of the olives, bottling the oil in bulk, or even blending new harvest olive oil with olive oil from the previous harvest will make the process much cheaper, and the oil may be within acceptable parameters at the time of testing. Unfortunately, due to faster degradation, it will no longer be EVOO by the time it reaches the consumer.

On the other hand, the process can be refined and perfected, and the Spanish extra virgin olive oil industry is now home to a younger generation of producers who are striving for excellence beyond the already high standards. As a result, we are now seeing the emergence of new types of olive oil, such as monovarietal extra virgin olive oil, or all around carefully studied EVOO blends, as well as premium early harvest oils.