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• Cold-hardy olive varieties: Gemlik, Ayvalık and the other candidates in the data

  In our variety data, Gemlik, Ayvalık, Coratina, Picual and Hojiblanca are recorded with high cold adaptation or hardiness; Kalamata, Leccino, Memecik and Domat are medium, Frantoio moderately sensitive and Saurani low. But variety alone is not enough: tree age, the duration of the cold and the site of the grove also decide.

  … of the wording in the sources. VarietyCold hardiness (recorded)Note GemlikHigh cold adaptationSuited to the cool winters of the Marmara region AyvalıkHigh cold toleranceThe main variety of …

• The 2026/27 season opens: first harvests in Ayvalık, Gemlik and Bozcaada

  The new olive season opened with three events on 11-13 September. In Ayvalık, an on-year forecast of 400,000-450,000 tonnes of olive oil was voiced; in Gemlik the first olives were picked during the festival; and on Bozcaada the island's first olive oil was pressed with a portable system.

  … the first olives of the season were picked at the **2nd Olive Harvest Celebration**, part of the **33rd International Gemlik Olive Festival**. This year's theme was …

• Gemlik-Orhangazi Olive Festival, 10-13 September: what the registration says about the name

  Gemlik and Orhangazi are holding their olive festivals together for the first time, on 10-13 September 2026. Dropping “Gemlik Olive” from the name drew criticism. The registered area under record no 76 covers four districts: Gemlik, İznik, Orhangazi and Mudanya.

  … together this year instead of separately. **"Two Districts, One Heritage: the Gemlik-Orhangazi Olive Festival"** runs 10-13 September 2026, organised jointly by the Gemlik and Orhangazi municipalities …

• The Gemlik Olive designation of origin: what the certificate says

  Turkey's first registered olive (2005, no 76). The certificate defines four districts, three cultivars, four curing methods and seven size grades — all of them binding.

  Not every packet marked "Gemlik olive" looks like it promises the same thing — but it does. Gemlik Olive has been registered as a **designation of …

• The Gemlik olive: small fruit, six times the flesh

  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.

  In Turkey, the taste most people mean by "olive" is Gemlik. It is the dominant cultivar in the black brine olives of the breakfast table, and …

• Does a harvesting machine damage the olive tree?

  Trunk shakers, branch shakers and hand picking: the damage comes not from the machine itself but from its settings and duration. The figures the Turkish agriculture ministry's research institute gives for the Gemlik variety — 70 bar clamping pressure, 20 Hz, a 6-8 second shake — and what falls off the tree once that window is exceeded. Why grove spacing, slope limits and operator training are technical requirements.

  … and tree age stated. The values below are for **15-year-old Gemlik** trees. ## Where damage begins: after the eighth second A self-propelled trunk shaker, in the …

• Orhangazi olive oil starts on the road to geographical indication, with samples to be tested for acidity and polyphenols

  The Orhangazi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has begun preparing a geographical indication application for "Orhangazi Olive Oil". More than 20 producers will be consulted, samples tested in Bursa and the influence of the Lake İznik basin studied. The area's Gemlik Olive registration covers only table olives.

  … from the orchard through harvest to the mill. ## The Gemlik Olive registration already covers Orhangazi The obvious question is whether Orhangazi is not already inside …

• Which olive variety is the most productive? Regular crops, early bearing and alternate bearing

  There is no single "most productive olive". Productivity depends on whether a tree bears regularly every year, how early it starts cropping and pollination. In our variety data, Picual and Frantoio are high and regular, Gemlik is early with low alternate bearing, while Kalamata, Hojiblanca and Memecik swing between on and off years.

  … Gemlik—Low tendency to alternateEarly Ayvalık—Little alternate bearing— DomatHigh with good careRegular— UsluGoodRegular with good care— SamanlıGood—— Coratina——Medium-early KalamataHighAlternate— HojiblancaHighAlternate: on and off years— MemecikSatisfactoryShows alternate bearing— …

• How to recognise a good table olive — and what to check when buying

  Is the colour mottled, the brine clear, the calibre stated? Concrete checks for buying table olives, whether Gemlik is an oil or table variety, and how to store them at home.

  … the fruit was made. Is Gemlik an oil or a table olive? Both. Gemlik is Türkiye's most widespread table variety, yet our records put its oil …

• Which olive varieties have the highest oil content?

  Kalem bezi and Kilis yağlık lead at 31 percent, with Gemlik just behind at 29-30. Measured oil content for 40 varieties — and what the figure does and does not tell you.

  … from bottom. Measured oil content VarietyOil content Kalem bezi31% Kilis yağlık31% Gemlik29-30% Saurani29% Çekişte27% Nizip yağlık27% Patos26.8% Memecik25-28% Koroneiki24-28% Erkence25-26% Picual24-27% Ayvalık (Edremit)23-26% Leccino22-27% Why a …

• Geyikli Olive Oil: a registration that names its pollinators

  Registered in 2020. From the Ayvalık cultivar; the certificate also records Gemlik and Hanım Parmağı as pollinators in the groves. Limits are set on 16 aroma compounds.

  … Agricultural Development Cooperative AreaGeyikli, Ezine district, Çanakkale CultivarAyvalık (Edremit) PollinatorsGemlik and Hanım Parmağı That the registrant is a **cooperative** is itself notable — most registrations are …

• Pollination and pollinator varieties in olive

  98% of olive flowers drop. Whether the remaining 1-2% holds depends on having a pollinator in the grove. Gemlik is only partially self-fertile: in a single-variety grove harvest falls to a third.

  … count-by-count detail and regional assessment of the trial, see south-eastern Anatolia's nameless olives. ## The real message: an early count misleads The most instructive part of …

• The Çelebi olive: the green table cultivar of İznik

  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.

  … as a **green table olive**, and its oil content is lower than [Gemlik's](/en/gemlik-olive). ## Çelebi in numbers Properties of the Çelebi variety PropertyValueNote Main usegreen table …

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

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

  Three varieties are widely processed as **black table olives** in Turkey: [Gemlik](/en/gemlik-olive), [Uslu](/en/uslu-olive) and **Edincik Su**. Edincik Su belongs to the Bandırma area of Balıkesir and …

• Samanlı olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

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

  … table variety of the area around Lake İznik — grown right next to Gemlik, in what counts as Türkiye's black table-olive heartland. ## Samanlı in numbers …

• Uslu olive: characteristics, oil content and growing areas

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

  Uslu is the Aegean's name for the black table olive. What Gemlik is to Marmara, Uslu is around Akhisar — though it never gained the same …

• The Memecik olive: Türkiye's oil variety

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

  … source, but it sits in the top three either way. If Gemlik is the variety of the table, **Memecik is the variety of the oil**. ## …

• Olive growing in Marmara: the home of the table olive

  The table olive's home is not the Aegean but Marmara: 80% of the region's crop is Gemlik. The reason is climate.

  … Marmara.** One figure shows the difference: **80% of Marmara's production is the Gemlik variety**, and Gemlik is a table olive. The Aegean's top two varieties (Memecik …

• The nameless olives of southeast Anatolia: Mardin, Şırnak and the pollinator problem

  Kumçatı and Derik genotypes beat Ayvalık and Gemlik on flesh ratio. Yuvarlak halhalı sets only 0.43% of its flowers with its own pollen.

  … Şırnak University, collected olives from five locations and compared them with Ayvalık and Gemlik: **Şırnak/Kumçatı, Şırnak/Kızılsu, Şırnak/Cizre, Mardin/Kızıltepe and Mardin/Derik.** Fruit characteristics: southeastern genotypes and standard …

• Table Olive Varieties

  From Gemlik to Kalamata, Manzanilla to Castelvetrano: the world's best-known table olives and what each is good for.

  … the texture holds up in brine. Some varieties serve both purposes. ## Turkey **Gemlik.** Turkey's best-known table olive. Small to medium, round, with a high flesh …

• Olive varieties: seventeen Turkish varieties in numbers

  Gemlik, Ayvalık, Memecik, Domat and the rest: Türkiye's olive varieties with oil content, fruit size, flesh ratio, region and ripening calendar.

  … Çelebi](/en/kan-celebi-olive) · [Karamürsel Su](/en/karamursel-su-olive) · [Kilis Yağlık](/en/kilis-yaglik-olive) · [Kiraz](/en/kiraz-olive) · [Marantelli](/en/marantelli-olive) · [Mavi](/en/mavi-olive) · [Melkebazi](/en/melkebazi-olive) · [Memecik](/en/memecik-olive) · [Memeli](/en/memeli-olive) · [Nizip Yağlık](/en/nizip-yaglik-olive) · [Otur](/en/otur-olive) · [Patos](/en/patos-olive) …

• 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.

  … in 2024/25 is a recovery from that low base. Extreme heat during flowering strikes fruit set directly. **Protecting grove land.** In Turkey, opening olive grove land …

• The Olive Sector in Turkey: Structure, Exports and Challenges

  Production, exports, business structure and price: the Turkish olive sector in figures, and where the chain breaks.

  … the Marmara region; one of the main buyers on the Gemlik line. A cooperative does more than buy: it sets a **floor price**. The purchase price …

• Geographical Indication Olives and Olive Oils of Turkey

  Türkiye's registered olive and olive oil geographical indications: which product, which locality, under what conditions — and what registration means.

  … origin is the narrower, stricter commitment. ## Registered olive and olive oil indications ProductTypeReg. noRegisteredRegistrantArea Gemlik ZeytiniDesignation of origin7603.10.2005Gemlik Commodity ExchangeBursa · Gemlik Ayvalık ZeytinyağıDesignation of …

• What is an olive pit good for?

  The pit makes up 13-30 percent of the fruit and its measured calorific value is 4,674 kcal/kg. But the laboratory result upsets intuition: the largest contribution to pomace energy comes from the flesh, not the pit. In activated carbon it yields 1,275 m²/g of surface area; in the nursery it is a seed that germinates poorly and demands grafting. Turkey produces roughly 200,000 tons of pomace a year.

  … **Çilli and Belluti at around 1.05 g**. Gemlik sits above the middle at **0.90 g**. VarietyPit weight Arbequina0.27 g Memecik0.56 g Manzanilla0.60 g Domat0.86 g Gemlik0.90 …

• When does the olive harvest begin?

  The harvest starts in late September and runs into February. Erkence is earliest, Memecik hangs into mid-December, and Mission's table and oil harvests are two months apart.

  … | | Uslu | early October | oil, black table | | Domat | September-November, ripe mid-October | table | | Ayvalık (Edremit) | October-November | …

• Where do olives grow in Turkey? The picture in 45 provinces

  The Aegean alone produces half the national crop; ten Black Sea provinces together manage 865 tonnes. In 46 provinces there is no commercial production at all.

  … tonnes of oil, while Bursa produces only 8,192 tonnes of oil from 140,000 tonnes of fruit. The reason is straightforward: Bursa's weight is in Gemlik, that …

• Orhangazi's crop is doubling: the oil olive share climbs from 10% to 40%

  According to figures from the Orhangazi District Directorate of Agriculture and Forestry, last season's crop of roughly 35,000 tonnes could double this year. But in Türkiye's table olive heartland the real shift is in the split: the share pressed for oil is expected to rise from 10% to 40%. Mills are already in maintenance, and the grower's income now depends on fruit size.

  … **40 percent**. Orhangazi is the main production basin of the [Gemlik olive](/en/gemlik-olive). Gemlik is a **table** variety carrying both a [Turkish geographical indication](/en/gemlik-olive-gi) and European Union …

• Marmarabirlik opens crop declarations on 21 September: no declaration, no purchase

  Crop declarations for the 2026-27 business year open on 21 September and close on 23 October at cooperatives affiliated with Marmarabirlik, Türkiye's largest table olive cooperative union. Members who do not file cannot sell to the cooperative, and the declared figure is a binding commitment covering oil olives too. In Orhangazi some 300 members are close to expulsion under the union's fifty-percent delivery rule.

  … close on 23 October 2026.** According to the notice published by the Gemlik Olive Agricultural Sales Cooperative to its members, the condition is unambiguous: a member …

• Does an ungrafted olive tree bear fruit? Wild olives, seedlings and grafting

  An ungrafted olive tree does bear fruit, but usually small, thin-fleshed and low in oil. Neither the wild trees known in Turkey as delice nor seedlings grown from a stone carry the variety of the parent tree. How to tell, what grafting gains, and why wild olives are still valuable.

  … that supplied the pollen. A stone from a Gemlik olive does not produce a Gemlik tree but a new tree whose traits cannot be predicted. Another …

• Green olive harvest begins in Málaga: 2.5 to 3 million kilos expected for Aloreña

  Table olive harvesting has begun in Spain's Málaga province with better prospects after years of drought. The protected-origin Aloreña de Málaga is expected to yield 2.5 to 3 million kilos, and trees are heavily laden with Hojiblanca, which supplies more than 90 per cent of the province's table olives. September heat, however, is shrivelling fruit on rain-fed land.

  While the first branches were being shaken to prayers in Gemlik, the table olive season also opened at the other end of the Mediterranean. The **green …

• How are black table olives made? Natural ripening versus blackening

  Two different black olives sit on the shelf: ripened on the tree and brined, or picked green and blackened by oxidation. Both lawful, but not the same product.

  … does each variety ripen? Ripening time is recorded for ten varieties: Gemlik mid-to-late October, Domat mid-October, Erkence earliest, Frantoio medium-late, Coratina late and staggered, Hojiblanca late. …

• Arbequina IRTA-i18: the clone behind super-high-density olive groves

  IRTA-i18, developed from Arbequina by clonal selection, was chosen for super-high-density groves. What early bearing, mechanical harvest and a low 459-hour chilling requirement actually mean.

  … 624, Çakır 1,000. A low chilling requirement means the variety can still form flower buds where winters are mild — favourable for southern regions. It should …

• Choosing certified olive saplings: labels, documents and variety

  Label colour shows the certificate class: blue certified, yellow standard. The difference is traceability, not quality. The support gap is 930 lira per decare. Four questions that settle variety choice.

  … is guaranteed by the producer**, without a certificate of origin. The claim "this is Gemlik" belongs to the nurseryman; no documented chain backs it. A standard …

• When to harvest olives: deciding with the maturity index

  Harvest timing is set by the maturity index, not the calendar. The 0-7 colour scale, how to calculate it from 100 fruits, early versus late harvest compared, and ripening times by variety.

  … MemecikMid-November to mid-December LeccinoLate HojiblancaLate KalamataLate — picked at full colour change CoratinaLate and staggered For a grower with several varieties, this table means the harvest …

• Where did olives come from? Origin and domestication

  The olive was domesticated about 6,000 years ago in the Levant — but not at a single centre. Genetic work shows the cultivated olive kept mixing with the wild oleaster throughout its spread.

  … the copying of a single admired tree. Every tree we now call Gemlik or Ayvalık is a clone of one individual selected centuries ago. ## When …

• Olive oil and brain health: what a 92,000-person study and the randomised evidence say

  The headlines about olive oil and the brain are bold; the evidence is more measured. In a 92,383-person cohort followed for 28 years, more than 7 g a day was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death. The randomised PREDIMED trial points the same way.

  … ranges are: within a single cultivar the low and high values differ two- to threefold. "Which cultivar" is therefore not the whole question; early harvest and …

• How many calories are in an olive? By piece, portion and variety

  A single olive contains between 1 and 12 calories depending on variety. A table calculated from the measured fruit weight and flesh ratio of 29 varieties, portion equivalents and the calories in olive oil.

  … practice: - Small oil varieties (Koroneiki, Arbequina): **1–1.5 kcal** - Medium table varieties (Gemlik, Manzanilla, Uslu): **4–5 kcal** - Large table varieties (Domat, Ayvalık): **6–6.5 kcal** …

• Soma Olive Oil: how a cooler climate lifts yield in a lignite basin

  Registered in 2023. Mean temperature 15.3 °C; the certificate ties that relative coolness to yields reaching 796 kg/da. Free acidity 0.18-0.55.

  … AreaThe Soma district of Manisa CultivarsEdremit Yağlık and Gemlik ## Climate and yield Measurement Value Annual rainfall652.4 mm Mean annual temperature15.3 °C Yieldup to 796.22 kg/da …

• Osmaniye Olive Oil: a registration with sensory thresholds above six

  Registered in 2022. Fruitiness ≥6.4, bitterness ≥6.0, pungency ≥6.1 — unusually high thresholds. Milling within 48 hours of harvest is required.

  … indication Registered byOsmaniye Chamber of Commerce and Industry AreaThe province of Osmaniye CultivarsGemlik and Ayvalık ## Sensory thresholds Attribute Median Fruitiness≥ 6.4 Bitterness≥ 6.0 Pungency≥ 6.1 …