Olive glossary

Adana Topağı

The lowest chilling requirement among cultivars tested: 346 hours, 234 chill units. Why that matters as winters warm, and its 6-gram fruit.

See: Adana Topağı: the olive cultivar that needs the least cold

Alternate bearing

The olive's habit of following a heavy crop year with a light one; it makes reading a trend from a single year misleading.

Arbequina

The mainstay of super-high-density planting. Small canopy, small fruit, early bearing — the variety that changed modern olive growing.

See: Arbequina olive: Spain's oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata · Chilling requirement in olives: which variety grows where?

Ayvalık (Edremit)

19-20.66% of the tree stock, second after Memecik. 25% oil. Green maturity only between 15 and 30 October; black maturity after 15 November, among the latest.

See: Geographical Indication Olives and Olive Oils of Turkey · The Ayvalık (Edremit) olive: one variety, two names · The History of Olive Oil Soap

Bitterness

A positive attribute linked to polyphenols and green fruit — not a defect.

Chill requirement

The period of winter cool the olive needs in order to flower; in climates without winter the tree lives but sets no fruit.

Cold pressing

Production in which the paste is not taken above 27 °C, limiting the loss of aroma and polyphenols.

Coratina

Among the highest-polyphenol varieties in the world. Distinctly bitter and pungent — the oil that gives blends their backbone.

See: Coratina olive: Italy's oil variety

Cracked olives

Olives scored or cracked so the bitterness leaches faster; quicker to cure but softer in texture.

Curing / brining

The whole process of removing an olive's bitterness in water, brine, dry salt or lye.

Çakır

Reported alongside Ayvalık and Domat with a 1000-hour chilling requirement — the group most at risk as winters warm.

See: The Çakır olive: a cultivar that asks for a thousand hours of cold

Çekişte

Çekişte accounts for 1.5% of Turkey's olive trees — more widespread than Domat or Uslu, yet a cultivar whose name is almost never heard.

See: The Çekişte olive: the Aegean's lesser-known oil cultivar

Çelebi

Grown around İznik in Bursa, Çelebi is a green table cultivar. Its oil content is lower than Gemlik's — which is no drawback for a table olive.

See: The Çelebi olive: the green table cultivar of İznik · Yağ Çelebi olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Çilli

At 6.90 g it ranks among the large-fruited cultivars, and sits in the low chilling-requirement group — second only to Adana Topağı.

See: The Çilli olive: large fruit, low chilling requirement · Verticillium wilt: the disease that kills the tree and has no cure

Decanter

The centrifugal machine that separates oil from water and solids in a continuous system; it has replaced the classic press.

Designation of origin

The type of geographical indication requiring ALL stages of production to take place in the stated area.

Domat

Domat, Turkey's largest table cultivar: 7.96 g fruit, 89% flesh, a 552-hour chilling requirement. Why stuffed olives are always made from it, the disagreement over oil content, and why it is never planted alone.

See: The Domat olive: the cultivar behind stuffed olives, in numbers · The energy burned at the field edge: olive pruning residue · Beef Casserole with Olives

Drupe

A stone fruit. Botanically the olive is a drupe, in the same class as plum and cherry.

Dry-salt cured olives

Ripe black olives cured in layers of rock salt in perforated baskets; wrinkled and intensely flavoured.

Edincik Su

One of the three cultivars widely processed as black table olives in Turkey, alongside Gemlik and Uslu. The cultivar of the Bandırma area.

See: The Edincik Su olive: the third black-table cultivar

Eğriburun

The lowest oil content on the list (17%) but the highest flesh ratio (89%) — a pure table variety.

See: Eğriburun olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Erkence

Erkence accounts for 3.5% of Turkey's olive trees. It is the Aegean's earliest-ripening cultivar and has a property with few equivalents anywhere: the fruit loses its bitterness on the tree, without brine.

See: The Erkence olive: the cultivar that sweetens on the tree

Extra virgin

The grade extracted by mechanical means only, with free acidity at most 0.8% and no defect in the sensory panel.

See: The gap between extra virgin and riviera is only 4% at wholesale · Extra Virgin, Virgin, Riviera: Olive Oil Grades Explained

Ferrous gluconate (E579)

The additive used to darken green olives chemically. Declaring it is mandatory; the ingredients list is the surest way to tell it from naturally ripened black olives.

Filtration

Straining out suspended particles; unfiltered oil is cloudier and, because it settles sediment, can spoil sooner.

Frantoio

The emblem of Tuscan olive oil. A balanced, aromatic, moderately bitter oil, and the most widely exported Italian variety.

See: Frantoio olive: Italy's oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata

Free fatty acid

The measure of breakdown in the oil, expressed as a percentage of oleic acid; this is what "acidity" means. It has nothing to do with sour taste.

Fruity

The fresh aroma and taste from sound fruit; one of the positive attributes in tasting.

Gemlik

Turkey s only olive cultivar with a geographical indication: 3.7 g fruit, a 6.4 flesh-to-pit ratio, 29-30% oil. Self-fertility measurements, chilling requirement, and why it is still picked by hand.

See: Geographical Indication Olives and Olive Oils of Turkey · Marmarabirlik purchase prices: what the grower actually receives in Marmara · The energy burned at the field edge: olive pruning residue

Geographical indication

The registration granted when a product's name is identified with its place of origin; in Turkey granted by TÜRKPATENT.

See: Geographical Indication Olives and Olive Oils of Turkey

Geographical indication (mahreç)

The more flexible type, requiring only that AT LEAST ONE stage of production takes place in the stated area.

Halhalı

Halhalı accounts for 2.2% of Turkey's olive trees, the main oil cultivar of Hatay and Mardin. The measured self-sterility of Yuvarlak Halhalı and what it means for orchard planning.

See: The Halhalı olive: Hatay's oil cultivar · The nameless olives of southeast Anatolia: Mardin, Şırnak and the pollinator problem

Hojiblanca

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

See: Hojiblanca olive: Spain's oil and table variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata

Hydroxytyrosol

The principal olive oil polyphenol; the health claim authorised by the European Food Safety Authority rests on it.

Invaiatura / veraison

The ripening stage at which the fruit turns from green to purple and then black; for many growers the ideal harvest window.

IOC

The International Olive Council, which sets olive oil grade standards and publishes world production and consumption statistics.

K232 / K270

Ultraviolet absorbance measurements that reveal refining and oxidation products.

See: Olive Oil Fraud and Adulteration: How It Is Done and How It Is Caught

Kalamata

The world's best-known table olive. Almond-shaped, purplish-black fruit, and a name that is a protected designation of origin.

See: Kalamata olive: Greece's table variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata · Table Olive Varieties

Kalem Bezi

Tied with Kilis Yağlık for the highest oil content on the list (31%), but with a better flesh ratio.

See: Kalem Bezi olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Karamürsel Su

The largest fruit on the list: only 140 per kilo. Marmara's own distinctive table variety.

See: Karamürsel Su olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Kilis Yağlık

One of Türkiye's highest oil-yielding varieties at 31%. Small-fruited and purely for oil — 560 fruits per kilo.

See: Kilis Yağlık olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas · Olive varieties: seventeen Turkish varieties in numbers

Kiraz

Akhisar's early table variety. Low in oil, but early maturity makes it the season's first olive to market.

See: Kiraz olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Koroneiki

The backbone of Greek olive oil. Very small fruit, very high polyphenol content, and one of the three super-high-density varieties.

See: Koroneiki olive: Greece's oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata · How to Tell Good Olive Oil

Lampante

Virgin oil with sensory defects or high acidity, unfit for direct consumption; it goes to refining. The name recalls its old use as lamp fuel.

Leccino

Frantoio's blending partner. A softer profile with notable cold and disease tolerance.

See: Leccino olive: Italy's oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata

Malaxation

The stage in which the crushed paste is slowly stirred so oil droplets coalesce; time and temperature directly affect quality.

Manzanilla

The world's most widely planted green table variety and the international standard for stuffed olives. It is grown in Türkiye too.

See: Manzanilla olive: Spain's table variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata · Table Olive Varieties

Memecik

Between 19% and 45% of the tree stock. 24-25% oil, 88% flesh. Green maturity in early October, two months after Gemlik.

See: Organic olive growing: what a four-year trial found · The Memecik olive: Türkiye's oil variety · Table Olive Varieties

Memeli

The highest flesh ratio on the list at 89%. Low in oil, but with one of the smallest stones.

See: Memeli olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Mission

America's historic variety: carried by the Spanish missions, it built California's black table olive industry.

See: Mission olive: United States's table and oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata

Nizip Yağlık

The southeast's main oil variety and one of the rare self-fertile cultivars on the list — it crops even without a pollinator.

See: The Olive: Tree, History, Production and Future · Nizip Yağlık olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas · The nameless olives of southeast Anatolia: Mardin, Şırnak and the pollinator problem

Olea europaea

The botanical name of the olive; an evergreen of the *Oleaceae* family.

See: The Olive: Tree, History, Production and Future · Olive wood: why spoons and not beams? · Olive pollen allergy: the quiet cause of May to July

Oleaster

The wild olive (*Olea europaea* var. *sylvestris*), ancestor of the cultivated tree; small-fruited with little flesh.

See: Rooting olive cuttings: 30 of 133 wild olives made it

Oleic acid

The monounsaturated fatty acid making up roughly 70-80% of olive oil.

Oleocanthal

The polyphenol responsible for throat pungency; identified in 2005, it stimulates the same nerve endings as ibuprofen.

See: Oleocanthal and Polyphenols

Oleuropein

The polyphenol that gives raw olives their sharp bitterness; the tree's own defence, removable by curing because it is water-soluble.

See: Olives and Olive Oil: Frequently Asked Questions · Olive Leaf Tea: How to Make It and Its Limits · Table Olives: Types, Curing and How to Choose

Olive oil (riviera)

Refined oil blended with a little virgin oil; usually labelled simply "olive oil".

Peroxide value

A measure of how far the oil has oxidised; read alongside acidity, which is not sufficient on its own.

Picual

The single largest share of world olive oil production. High oleic acid and polyphenols, a pungent and stable oil.

See: Picual olive: Spain's oil variety · World olive varieties: from Picual to Kalamata

Polyphenol

The family of compounds giving oil its bitterness, pungency and resistance to oxidation; largely lost in refining.

See: Oleocanthal and Polyphenols

Pomace

The pulp left after pressing — skin, stone and flesh residue — used as fuel, fodder and the raw material for pomace oil.

Pomace oil

Oil extracted from pomace with solvents. It is not olive oil in the strict sense; labelling it as pomace oil is mandatory.

Pungency

The sharpness felt at the back of the throat on swallowing; linked to oleocanthal and a sign of freshness.

Refined

The grade produced by treating defective or high-acidity oil with heat and chemicals; acidity falls but most aroma, flavour and polyphenols are lost.

Samanlı

The local table variety around Lake İznik — Gemlik's neighbour, with a different fruit structure.

See: Samanlı olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Sarı Haşebi

Hatay's local table variety, virtually unknown outside the region and part of Kuseyr Plateau olive growing.

See: Sarı Haşebi olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Sarı Ulak

The eastern Mediterranean's table variety. The lowest flesh ratio on the list (72%) — a large stone, yet it holds its ground.

See: Sarı Ulak olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Saurani

Hatay's dual-purpose variety: 29% oil with 87% flesh — one of the most balanced combinations on the list.

See: Saurani olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Sensory panel

The official method by which trained tasters assess an oil for defects and positive attributes; the extra virgin grade requires zero defects.

Sucker / water shoot

A vigorous, non-fruiting shoot from the base or trunk; it draws the tree's strength and is removed year-round.

Tocopherol

The chemical name for vitamin E, one of olive oil's natural antioxidants.

Uslu

Akhisar's black table variety. Overshadowed by Gemlik, yet holding its own market.

See: Uslu olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas · Olive varieties: seventeen Turkish varieties in numbers

Vegetation water

The heavily organic waste liquid released from the fruit during pressing; polluting to soil and water if left untreated.

Virgin

Also mechanically extracted, with acidity up to 2% and slight sensory defects tolerated.

See: The gap between extra virgin and riviera is only 4% at wholesale · Extra Virgin, Virgin, Riviera: Olive Oil Grades Explained · Virgin Mary with Olives

Yağ Çelebi

Despite the name, its 21% oil puts it low on the list; its large fruit also serves the table.

See: The Çelebi olive: the green table cultivar of İznik · Yağ Çelebi olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

Yamalak Sarısı

A local cultivar of Aydın counted among Turkey's most important table olives, and the subject of a phenotypic characterisation study.

See: Yamalak Sarısı: the local table cultivar of Aydın