Harvesting the olives is one of the key steps for the production of high phenolic EVOO. The most important thing is TIMING (when we usually finish our harvesting season, the harvesting season of olives has not yet been started). This is not something we invented, in fact, in ancient Rome, the most expensive olive oil, used only form medicinal purposes and sometimes for cosmetics too, was called “oleum acerbum”, also “oleum aestivum”. This kind of olive oil was made from green, unripe olives, usually harvested in September.

The second most important thing is harvest by hand in order to not damage the fruits. In fact, even small beats by pneumatic or electric harvesters can cause enough oxidative damage to significantly lower the phenolic content.

An the final most important thing is to keep the fruits in shade during harvest and to process them immediately after harvest.