natives ORGANIC Olive oil/Italy

For our valuable extra virgin olive oil, sun-ripened olives from Calabria are gently cold centrifuged in the traditional way. The high-quality olive oil has a full-bodied and fruity taste and is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids. The typical olive flavor goes well with a variety of dishes and is a typical ingredient and a true classic of Mediterranean cuisine.

Olive oil in the kitchen

We recommend virgin olive oil for dishes such as pasta and pizza and, of course, for classic salad dressings. It combines perfectly with dark balsamic vinegars. The oil with its mild note also goes well with dips and spreads with hummus. Virgin olive oil is suitable for steaming and frying, but it should not be heated too much or for too long so as not to impair the taste and prevent smoke from forming in the pan. Our tip: Try the fine olive oil with a little salt and pepper as an appetizer or snack with a fresh baguette. We think our Italian olive oil, like salt and pepper, belongs in every kitchen.

The olive harvest in Italy

Traditionally, the organic olive harvest festival takes place in Calabria every year in October. In October 2021, we were able to accompany the harvest of the olives and the artisanal processing into our organic olive oil on site. We have been sourcing the olive oil for our own brand from the project in southern Italy for many years.

The perfect time for the harvest is determined by regular quality checks of the olives on the tree. Once the olives have reached a certain size and have a plump, greenish to dark red flesh, they are ready for harvesting. The more sun the olives receive, the darker and riper they become. As they ripen, they acquire a more spicy, tart flavor, while green olives taste sour and fruity. The mixture of processed olives with different degrees of ripeness ultimately determines the taste of the oil.

The olive trees are shaken by small tractors with a gripper arm so that the fruit falls into large chutes. Olives that are not yet ripe enough usually do not fall and can continue to grow. Trees that are difficult for tractors to access or are still too small are harvested by hand using long poles. To do this, the workers lay out large nets under the trees to collect the olives. Immediately before being processed into oil, the olives are thoroughly cleaned with cold water.

We cannot produce olive oil ourselves in our oil mill. One reason for this is that the olives have to be processed quickly after harvesting. The small fruits contain a lot of moisture and there is a risk of mold forming if they are stored for a long time. Farmers in Italy make a point of processing their olives into oil within 12 hours of harvesting. Transportation to the Weserbergland would not be possible within this short time. Furthermore, olive oils are not cold-pressed but cold centrifuged. We can only process dry nuts, kernels and seeds in our oil presses - but not oils made from fruit pulp. This is why we source all our olive oils from trustworthy farmers and producers, such as the producer family in Calabria.

Buy good olive oil

We recommend virgin olive oil for dishes such as pasta and pizza and, of course, for classic salad dressings. It combines perfectly with dark balsamic vinegars. The oil with its mild note also goes well with dips and spreads with hummus. Virgin olive oil is suitable for steaming and frying, but it should not be heated too much or for too long so as not to impair the taste and prevent smoke from forming in the pan. Our tip: Try the fine olive oil with a little salt and pepper as an appetizer or snack with a fresh baguette. We think our Italian olive oil, like salt and pepper, belongs in every kitchen. By the way: in the latest olive oil test by Stiftung Warentest, our Italian organic extra virgin olive oil was rated as good.

Olive oil for skin and hair care

Virgin olive oil with its mild scent is also very popular as a skin and hair care oil. It can be applied pure to the skin as a rich care product or mixed with the daily moisturizer for the face and body. A hair treatment with virgin olive oil has a particularly nourishing effect on the hair: depending on the length of the hair, simply spread 1 - 2 teaspoons of olive oil on towel-dried hair and leave on for a few hours or overnight. Then wash out with a mild shampoo.

Olive harvesting using the Safe Bird method

At Ölmühle Solling, we assure you that all the olive oils we offer in our range are made from olives harvested using the Safe Bird method.

Why does a certain harvesting method pose a risk to songbirds? Farmers in the Mediterranean region start harvesting their olives in October. In intensive cultivation on large plantations, olives are sometimes harvested with certain harvesting machines in order to save costs for harvesting assistants. The olives are shaken from the trees at night and are not collected by hand with nets, but are instead sucked in with large machines. By harvesting at night, the farmers also hope to improve the shelf life of the olives. This is because olives that are harvested during the day are heated by the sunlight and have to be processed more quickly after harvesting. However, the problem is that the night-time harvest takes place in the dark. At this time, numerous songbirds are resting in the trees. Due to the loud noises made by the harvesting machines in the dark, most of the birds remain disoriented in the trees in search of shelter. This leads to the birds being sucked in and killed. This would be different if the machines were used during the day, as the birds are not disoriented in daylight and can leave the trees. Fortunately, this harvesting method is being used less and less, as large international olive oil companies are being petitioned to ban the harvesting method that relies on sucking olives out of the trees at night.

We assure you that the olives for our olive oils are only harvested during the day without the use of suction cups and with absolute respect for the animals and the environment.

Note: Protect from light and heat