How is olive oil made?
After varietal differences, choosing when to harvest is the biggest determinant of the flavor of the oil. Olives ripen in the fall and winter, changing in color from green to a purple so deep that it is called black. The oil produced changes too, according to the ripeness of the olive. Early- harvest olives (usually picked between late October and early December) produce richer, fruitier oils, often with a peppery finish. Olives picked later in the season (often so late that they aren‘t picked at all, but are allowed to fall into nets or onto the ground) produce mild oils with little varietal character. They also produce much more oil than early-harvest olives, which has led some unscrupulous producers to mix leaves in with late-harvest olives in an effort to produce oil with the green color associated with more valuable, early-harvest oils. Generally, the best oils are made from olives harvested when they are between one-third and two-thirds black (normally between mid-November and ea
