Crush Date / Harvest Date for Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Crush Date / Harvest Date for Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Why Crush Date / Harvest Date is essential to Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a staple in the Mediterranean Diet because of the many health benefits it offers. Considered a healthy fat, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is packed with phenols and oleic acid. Incorporating Extra Virgin Olive Oil into your diet has been linked to lowering the risk of cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure. Before we dive into the many health benefits EVOO offers, let's discuss one of the key indicators of identifying quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Crush Date / Harvest Date
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a fruit juice that means you want it fresh especially to reap all the health benefits it offers. When looking for Extra Virgin Olive Oil steer away from 'bottled date' or 'best by date'. You want to know when the fruit (olives!) were crushed. Also known as harvest date. 'Best by date' or 'bottled date' don't give any indication of when the olives were crushed and unfortuntately that means the product could have been sitting around for a long time. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has two different Crush / Harvest seasons:
Northern Hemisphere (where most of us associate Extra Virgin Olive Oil) harvests its olives in October and November. So if you are looking for Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, California and other Northern Hemipshere countries keep an eye out in Fall and early winter!
Southern Hemipshere harvests its olives in May and June. Argentina, Chile, Peru, Australia and South Africa are some of the leaders in Extra Virgin Olive Oil production.
Our current stock is Southern Hemipshere crushed in May and June of this year. And we are looking forward to receiving our Northern Hemisphere Olive Oil in 2-3 months!
Check out our current stock:
Stay tuned for more to come on other indicators of quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil and its many health benefits!