Which one to buy – Early Harvest Or Mature Harvest ?
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People are increasingly turning to olive oil for its numerous health advantages. The quality of olive oil, on the other hand, is determined by how healthy the olives were when the producer picked and harvested them. As a result, most producers choose to sell Extra Virgin Olive Oil to their clients.
Early harvest oil is produced by olives picked in this region in the first few months of the year (March or April), whereas mature harvest oil is produced by olives harvested in the last few months of the year (June, sometimes July).
Early Harvest
Extra virgin olive oils from early harvest are produced from unripe olives with a high chlorophyll concentration. They have a greener colour because of the high quantities of chlorophyll (but may fade as they age or are exposed to any light).
Contrarily, the presence of carotenes and carotenoids will result in the production of oils that are more or less brightly coloured yellow. Early harvest oils often contain extra-low acidity and greater antioxidant levels than mature harvest oils, which is one of the main reasons why people prefer to purchase them.
Early harvest oils usually have a bitter, peppery, or pungent finish in the throat. This “bitterness” is actually beneficial and denotes high-quality production and processing. The nutritious antioxidants are what you taste in the peppery flavour.
They are harvested in small numbers to avoid deterioration when heaped up and exposed to heat. After transporting the olives to the mills, manufacturers press, filter, and bottle them to preserve optimal organoleptic properties.
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Mature Harvest
The olive is more ripe when harvested later in the season (often a purple, blueberry or black colour, depending on the varietal). The benefit of harvesting later in the season is that it provides a distinct flavour, and the olives themselves produce more oil during processing.
Late harvest oil is often more golden or yellow in colour than early harvest oil due to low chlorophyll and polyphenol levels.
In terms of flavour, the oils usually have flowery, less bitter, and less pungent overtones. They have a lower shelf life than early harvest oils as they are harvested later in the season.
Which option to select?
Both early and mature harvests are excellent in terms of quality and can be used for all purposes, but if we had to choose one, we would choose early harvest for pasta, cold meals, and Mediterranean cuisine, and mature harvest for Indian dishes.
Mature harvest has a little better impact on hair, skin, and massage.
In Olister olive oil, all the olives were handpicked from the Single Aegean region that has a Mediterranean climate and is ideal for producing the world’s best extra virgin olive oil.
