Kilis Yağlık olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas
One of Türkiye's highest oil-yielding varieties at 31%. Small-fruited and purely for oil — 560 fruits per kilo.
If you want to know how much oil an olive can give, Türkiye's answer is Kilis Yağlık: 31%. That is among the highest figures measured in the country, and it explains the variety's name — yağlık means "for oil".
Kilis Yağlık in numbers
| Oil content | 31% |
| Fruits per kilo | 560 |
| Flesh ratio | 82% |
| Use | Oil |
| Main areas | Kilis, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kahramanmaraş |
Source: Efe, Soykan, Cürebal and Sönmez (2016), Zeytin Kitabı. Fields the source leaves blank are shown as "—"; nothing has been estimated.
When does it flower and ripen?
| Flowering | 20 May – 4 June |
| Fruit set | 25 May – 9 June |
| Green maturity | October |
| Black maturity | Second half of November |
Source: Olive Integrated Pest Management Technical Instruction, TAGEM. Dates shift with region and year; flowering is later at higher altitude.
What does 31% oil mean?
Kilis Yağlık, together with Kalem Bezi, has the highest oil content of Türkiye's varieties. For comparison:
| Variety | Oil content | Fruits per kg |
|---|---|---|
| Kilis Yağlık | 31% | 560 |
| Kalem Bezi | 31% | 450 |
| Gemlik | 29–30% | — |
| Saurani | 29% | 340 |
| Nizip Yağlık | 27% | 455 |
At 560 fruits per kilo it has the smallest fruit on the list. That is not a fault but the definition of an oil variety: small fruit means more skin-and-flesh surface per unit weight and denser oil. It is also why the variety is unsuited to the table.
The southeast's oil belt
Kilis Yağlık is the main oil variety along the Kilis, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa and Kahramanmaraş belt. The region's other two major varieties are Nizip Yağlık and Halhalı.
Genetic work places Kilis Yağlık within over 60% similarity of Domat, Gemlik, Manzanilla and Nizip Yağlık.
In short
Kilis Yağlık is among Türkiye's highest oil-yielding varieties (31%) and has the smallest fruit at 560 per kilo. It is unsuited to the table; its value is entirely in oil. With Nizip Yağlık and Halhalı, it carries the southeast's oil production.
One rating per visitor; you can change yours at any time. Ratings are real reader votes — no seeded or default scores.
Related
Article
Kalamata olive: Greece's table variety
The world's best-known table olive. Almond-shaped, purplish-black fruit, and a name that is a protected designation of origin.
Article
The Olive: Tree, History, Production and Future
The botany, history and uses of the olive tree; current production figures worldwide and in Turkey, provinces, varieties and the sector's future — with tables.
Article
Leccino olive: Italy's oil variety
Frantoio's blending partner. A softer profile with notable cold and disease tolerance.
Article
The Olive Tree
Olea europaea: botany, lifespan, root and leaf structure, monumental trees. The identity of the Mediterranean's emblematic tree and how it lives.