Organic Olive Oil | Jaén (Andalusia), Spain

The Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil we use comes from a family business in Andalusia with a long tradition in olive oil. The olive trees they use today were already planted 200 years ago by their great-great-grandparents.

Their farm is one of the few fully organic olive farms in Spain with full traceability: the organic extra virgin olive oil is made exclusively from their own olive groves, the olives are pressed in their mill and the oil is also bottled on site. The mill is centrally located in the olive groves, so they can process the olives within 3 hours of harvesting. They do this to limit oxidation and to retain maximum health benefits and flavour. The olive oil is produced exclusively by mechanical cold-pressing methods in order to maintain and guarantee the high quality of organic extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil is made from 100% unblended picual olives, which are considered the healthiest of all, with a high level of antioxidant. 

Their aim is to create the world’s finest extra virgin olive oil while only using environmentally-friendly techniques. The entire estate uses organic farming techniques, which do not alter the composition, structure or biodiversity of the soil, and which in turn prevent erosion and soil degradation. Their organic farming system is focused on maintaining a natural forest of olive trees with the least possible interference. Nature itself performs most of the tasks, and they respect its cycles and rules. The farm is growing an olive grove with great biodiversity, able to sustain 197 different species of flora and fauna.

As they are located 600 meters above sea-level and have a wide temperature range between summer and winter, the climate allows a natural disinfection of their olive trees, keeping them safe from plagues and illness without the use of herbicides, pesticides or any other chemical products.

All the waste generated during the production process, such as branches, leaves and mill waste, are composted together with manure from the organic extensive livestock farm next door to obtain a natural organic fertilizer which is then processed in the olive grove. This is a great way to recycle all the organic by-products and to close the production cycle of the organic materials and nutrients. A unique way of working within olive oil farming. 

Pretty cool fact: When olive tree waste is burned, it provides renewable energy and produces 2.5 times the heat of burning wood, and the smoke is harmless. Its ash is used to fertilize the soil.