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Hojiblanca olive: Spain's oil and table variety

Spain's third-largest variety and genuinely dual-purpose: it goes to black table olives and to oil alike.

26 August 2026 Zeytin.NET editorial desk Olive 3 min read 69 views

Most olive varieties go either to oil or to the table. Hojiblanca genuinely does both — and is common enough to be Spain's third-largest variety.

Named for its leaf

Hojiblanca means "white-leaved". The underside of the leaf is markedly pale, and in the wind the grove looks silver.

Hojiblanca olive: Spain's oil and table variety

What does dual-purpose mean?

For one variety to serve both uses it has to combine traits that pull against each other:

For the table: large, even fruit, firm flesh, tough skin, a high flesh ratio.
For oil: sufficient oil content and a good fatty acid composition.

Hojiblanca meets both. Processed as black table olives it feeds Spain's aceituna negra market; pressed, it gives a soft, sweet oil with almond notes.

The price of that is being best at neither. Its oil content does not match Picual's, and its fruit is not as large as Gordal's. What the grower gains is flexibility — whichever price is better, the crop can go there.

The Turkish equivalent

Turkish varieties carry the same flexibility:

Saurani — 29% oil with 87% flesh, Hatay
Nizip Yağlık — 27% oil, also used for the table locally
Memecik — the country's most widespread variety, both oil and table

Dual purpose is in fact the classic form of Mediterranean olive growing; single-purpose specialisation is a modern, industrial choice.

Harvest timing decides

With Hojiblanca, which product the crop becomes is decided by when it is picked: at green maturity it goes to the table, at black maturity to oil. The same tree, the same season, two different products.

That is the same question as the effect of harvest timing on oil: is early harvest expensive or valuable?

Hojiblanca in numbers

Hojiblanca — catalogue entry
Fruit weight	4.47 g
Flesh-to-stone ratio	8.98
Oil content	17-19%
Ripening	Late
Productivity	High but alternating
Self-fertility	Self-compatible, pollen of medium quality
Oil stability	Low
Tolerant to	Chalky soils, drought, winter cold
Susceptible to	Leaf spot, olive knot, Verticillium
Pitting	Difficult — flesh clings to the stone

Source: International Olive Council (IOC), World Catalogue of Olive Varieties. It covers more than 265,000 hectares in Spain and is the country's third largest variety by area: Córdoba 43%, Málaga 30%, Seville 17%, Granada 10%.

The table also shows the price of that dual-purpose flexibility. Oil content is 17-19%, clearly below Picual, and oil stability is low, meaning a shorter shelf life. On the table side it carries one real defect: the flesh clings to the stone, which is why the pitted-and-stuffed line is built on Manzanilla instead.

Hojiblanca's job, then, is not to be the best oil or the best table olive, but to sit between the two and switch according to price.

Where it stands among measured varieties

Flesh ratio 90.0% 46 measured · rank 2.

Zoncuk avg 83,8% Mavi

et/çekirdek oranı 8,98'ten türetildi — kaynak: IOC Dünya Zeytin Çeşitleri Kataloğu — Avustralya denemesi 19

Oil content 17-19% 39 measured · rank 35.

Tavsanyuregi avg 22,6% Kalem Bezi

çeşit sayfası

Fruit weight 4.47 g 29 measured · rank 11.

Koroneiki avg 4,2 g Karamursel Su

IOC Dünya Zeytin Çeşitleri Kataloğu — Avustralya denemesi 1998-2004 (Tablo 4)

Flesh-to-stone ratio 8.98 17 measured · rank 1.

Arbequina avg 6,1 Hojiblanca

IOC Dünya Zeytin Çeşitleri Kataloğu — Avustralya denemesi 1998-2004 (Tablo 4)

Values are those published on each variety's own page; the comparison covers only varieties with a measured figure, so it is a comparison of what is known — not of every Turkish variety. See the full ranking and how it is built →

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