Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Harvested For Exceptional Quality And Taste
Updated February 7th 2024
Summary
- There are four key steps to bring the best extra virgin olive oil to your home and table.
- Attention to detail in the production of extra virgin olive oil ensures the best taste and health benefits in every bottle.
- Morocco has the ideal climate to grew olives and Morocco Gold from the Picholine Marocaine. It has a high polyphenol count. As well as oxidative stability and longevity.
- Morocco Gold has fulfilment and distribution centres in the UK and the US.
Contents
- The Exceptional Flavour of Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil Comes From Attention To Detail At Every Stage.
- Where Are Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil Trees Grown?
- How Are Morocco Gold Olives Harvested?
- Why Is Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil Better For Health and Taste?
- How Do We Deliver Our Extra Virgin Olive Oil To Your Door?
The Exceptional Flavour of Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil Comes From Attention To Detail At Every Stage.
We know that the incredible taste and powerful health benefits of Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil do not happen by accident. They are the result of painstaking attention to detail at every stage in the growing, harvesting and production process.
At Morocco Gold, we know that our customers appreciate everything that goes on ‘behind the scenes’ to deliver the best extra virgin olive oil to your table and we would like to share some of the magic with you! Let’s start at the beginning!
1. Where Are Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil Trees Grown?
Morocco has the ideal climate for olive cultivation – mild winters, and warm, dry summers. The soils in the main olive growing regions near Taounate, Taza, Fez, Meknes, Beni Mellal, and Marrakech are rich and deep, and generally have an equal balance of clay and coarse sands.
For instance, the climate is also slightly harsher than in other olive oil producing countries. Morocco Gold olives are grown in a valley that is about 2,000 feet above sea level. This helps to create the additional climatic challenges that encourage polyphenol uptake within the olive tree. It is also an area with naturally occurring high phenols in the soil itself. Olives from the Beni-Mellal region have been grown for centuries using traditional farming methods and are all handpicked during harvest time. This includes ground-work and tillage which is carried out once or twice a year.
Our oil is made from olives grown in the foothills of the Atlas mountains.
Any planting of new trees is done at the beginning of spring. In addition to natural rainfall which is generally sufficient, trees are irrigated as needed during the period of vegetation of the olive tree, normally until the end of September. Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is the product of the soil, the sun and rain, nothing else.
2. How Are Morocco Gold Olives Harvested?
Morocco Gold olives are harvested and pressed early in the season when the fruit is young, with no mixing or blending with other oils across the season to maintain its fresh milled flavour.
Olive trees can produce olives for hundreds of years. Yet olive trees typically alternate between bearing small crops and normal crops every other year. They can also go for 2 – 3 years without bearing any fruit. There are a number of key stages in the life cycle of the olive tree that lead up to the harvesting and pressing of our extra virgin olive oil.
Interflorescences
Olive trees produce fruiting shoots called inflorescences, which originate at the axil of a leaf. Each inflorescence will typically contain 10 to 30 flowers depending on the type of olive. The number of flowers that then mature into olives dependent on a number of factors.
Olive trees produce fruiting shoots called inflorescences, which originate at the axil of a leaf. Each inflorescence will typically contain 10 to 30 flowers depending on the type of olive. The number of flowers that then mature into olives dependent on a number of factors.
The polyphenol content of extra virgin olive oil is dependent on three factors. Firstly is the variety of the olive. Secondly, the climate and terroire of the growing region. Thirdly, the harvest time.
We press our olives from the Picholine Marocaine. This is the only type of olive to go into Morocco Gold. It has a high polyphenol count. As well as oxidative stability and longevity.
Our olives are grown in a valley within the foothills of the Atlas mountains. That is about 2,000 feet (600M) above sea level. That does have the additional climatic challenges that encourage polyphenol generation. It is also an area with naturally occurring high phenols in the soil itself. So all in all it is a pretty unique source.
Thirdly, our olives are picked when the fruit is young and green. As the olives age on the tree, the colour of the olive changes to red and then black. The size of the olive increases thus producing more oil, but the polyphenol level decreases. In Morocco there is a great deal of expertise within the farming community. We pick our olives to maximise their polyphenol level.
4. Why Is Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil Better For Health and Taste?
Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is made by grinding olives into a paste, then pressing them to extract the oil. There’s no heat involved, hence the “cold–pressed” label.
As explained in Healthline, cold pressing may help olive oil retain its nutritional value, as nutrients and beneficial plant compounds can break down under high heat. Healthline lists 13 benefits of cold-pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which include: high nutrient composition, healthy fats and high concentration of polyphenols – all of which are good news for your overall health.
5. How Do We Deliver Our Extra Virgin Olive Oil To Your Door?
Once picked early in the harvesting season, our olives are taken to our modern local plant where they are pressed – hence the ‘cold pressed within 24 hours’. We then bulk ship the oil to the UK where it is bottled and packed under British Retail Consortium (BRC) AA standard conditions.
The oil is bottled and packed and sent to our fulfilment and distribution centres in Northampton for our UK and European customers, and to Ohio for our USA customers. Initially, all fulfilment and distribution was carried out at Northampton in the UK, however as the business in the US has grown and in order to improve delivery service, we now supply the US through our fulfilment and distribution facility in Ohio.
