Tarsus Sarıulak Olive Oil: milling required immediately after harvest

Nothing degrades olive oil quality more than fruit left waiting. Tarsus Sarıulak Olive Oil's certificate reduces this to a one-sentence requirement.

The record

Its raw material is itself registered — a geographical indication whose input is another geographical indication means both links of the chain are protected.

The requirement

t; To secure the product's properties, the olives must be processed into oil as soon as they are harvested.

Picked olives begin to ferment; if they wait, acidity rises, peroxide increases and sensory defects appear. With this single condition the certificate safeguards the product's profile.

Why the phenols are high

The certificate states the distinguishing feature plainly: because of the climate and soil where it grows, the oil is obtained at early harvest, which raises total phenol content.

The peroxide value averages 8.23 meq/kg — far below the maximum the Turkish Food Codex allows for virgin olive oils.

Composition of the oil

The colour is bright yellow.

Both ends of the chain

The Tarsus Commodity Exchange registered both the olive and its oil: the table Tarsus Sarıulak Olive (345) and this oil (767). Two products from the same tree, two separate certificates.

The criteria the document binds

The registration does not only protect a name; it defines the product numerically:

Limiting the time from harvest to pressing binds the operation rather than the outcome: free fatty acidity rises while the fruit waits.

Inspection. Members: Tarsus Ticaret Borsası, Tarsus İlçe Tarım ve Orman Müdürlüğü, Tarsus Ticaret ve Sanayi Odası, Tarsus Ziraat Odası. Results are reported under Industrial Property Law no. 6769 and submitted to the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

The production steps in the document

The registration describes production step by step. The document's own sequence:

1. Zeytinlerin Hasadı — Tarsus Sarıulak Zeytinyağı üretimi için kullanılacak Tarsus Sarıulak Zeytinlerinin hasadı Tarsus Sarıulak Zeytininin hasat dönemi ile başlar ve iklime bağlı olarak ocak ayı sonuna kadar devam edebilir Tarsus Sarıulak Zeytini ağaçtan…

2. Zeytinlerin depolanması — Zeytinler hasat edilir edilmez yağa işlenmeleri esastır.

3. Zeytinlerin temizlenmesi ve yıkanması — Temizlik, vibrasyonlu hava akımı veya elek ile başlar.

4. Zeytinlerin kırılması ve ezilmesi — Ezme işlemini kolaylaştırmak için, meyve, 6-7 mm olan deliklerden geçebilecek büyüklükte en az 3-4 parçaya kırılır.

5. Zeytin ezmesinden yağın ekstraksiyonu — a) Hidrolik presleme: Elle veya mekanik olarak daha önceden tasiriye torbaları içine yayılmış zeytin hamuru üzerine, hidrolik basınç uygulanarak yağ ve kara suyun katı fazdan ayrılma işlemidir.

6. Karasuyun zeytinyağından ayrılması — Değişik sistemlerden elde edilen yağ-karasu karışımındaki karasuyun, zeytinyağı üretiminde son işlem basamağı olan ayırma işlemi ile yağdan uzaklaştırılması gerekir.

7. Zeytinyağının Depolanması — Klasik ya da modern yöntemler kullanılarak üretilen natürel zeytinyağı ambalajlama işleminden önce tanklarda depolanır.

That this sequence is binding is what separates a geographical indication from a trade mark: a mark says who produced something, a geographical indication also sets down how it must be produced.

The cultivar behind it, measured

The registration is granted to a place, but the cultivar the definition rests on has measurable values:

At 19% the oil content sits mid-range; yield alone is not the argument here, aroma is.

Its place in Mersin's olive production

74% of the province's fruit goes to oil. An oil-based registration matches how the province actually produces.