Aydın Memecik Olive: grafted on wild rootstock, a tree that yields for a century

Memecik is the most widespread olive cultivar in the Aegean. What the certificate foregrounds is not yield but longevity: grafted onto wild rootstock, Memecik trees yield economically for 80-100 years, after which rejuvenation pruning can bring them back into production.

The record

The measured fruit

A flesh-to-stone ratio of 7.53 is high — it is why the cultivar serves both for oil and for brining.

Where it grows

Widespread through the Greater and Lesser Menderes valleys. It generally grows on sloping, hillside and mountainous ground and is drought-tolerant — the two facts belong together: unirrigable hillside land is no obstacle for Memecik.

The trunk is dark grey and fissured. It is moderately susceptible to the olive fly, which the certificate does not conceal.

Harvest by intended use

Because Memecik serves both oil and brine, harvest maturity depends on the intended use, and the criterion is fruit colour — the maturity index:

• Fruit destined for green brining is picked once it reaches a yellowish green
• Fruit for oil is left to a later maturity

We weighed up whether early harvest is expensive or valuable elsewhere.

The oil registration of the same cultivar

The Aydın Commodity Exchange also registered the cultivar's oil separately: Aydın Memecik Olive Oil (no 535, designation of origin). Together they are an example of the table and oil lines of one cultivar being protected separately.

In short

Aydın Memecik Olive is the registration, within the province of Aydın, of the Aegean's most widespread cultivar. What the certificate adds is five measured values and the cultivar's longevity — close to a century of yield on wild rootstock, followed by rejuvenation.

Source: Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, Geographical Indication Registration Certificate No 749 — Aydın Memecik Zeytini.