ABOUT US

GROVES AND MILL The terroir of the Tulbagh Valley is ideal for cultivating olives.

With their roots firmly planted in the granite and sandstone soils, our olive trees bask in the abundant summer sunshine. By complete contrast winters are cold and crisp with snow-capped mountain peaks. The result is disease-free trees that yield healthy fruit with a distinctive flavor profile. Following extensive research into industry practices and trends world-wide, Oakhurst has adopted a high-density planting approach in our groves. This facilitates orchard management and doubles production per hectare without compromising quality. Each year, from April to June, our entire crop is carefully hand-harvested at optimum ripeness to ensure premium quality fruit for processing. Once harvested, the olives are milled and cold-extracted within 24 hours in our state-of-the-art onsite Pierlisi processing plant to capture the aromas and flavours of the freshly-harvested fruit. The oil is stored in stainless steel tanks in our olive oil cellar and bottled on demand to guarantee freshness.

NEWS Oakhurst Olives produces Kalamata Table Olives and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Oakhurst Olives was established on Lemoendrif Farm in the beautiful Tulbagh Valley in 2004 when the first olive trees were planted.

The Kalamata trees gave their first harvest when they started bearing fruit in 2010. The Kalamata Olives are picked in March to April and are immediately put into brine. They stay in their barrels for a minimum of 10 months.

So what you are eating is pure Kalamata Olives, nothing more and nothing less!

The Oakhurst Extra Virgin Olive Oil is made of a blend of the fruits from 10 different varieties including leccino, frantoio, carotina trees, which are all propagated and grown on the farm. The olives are picked and cold extracted on the same day. The picking season is from March through to June. The oil is produced on it’s First Pressing thereby ensuring you of a delicious fresh and peppery Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Olive Oil has a shelf life of approximately 2 years but the rule of thumb is, The Fresher the Better. Older oil looses it’s aroma and taste over time, as the oil gets older, it begins to smell and taste like cooking oil and the good and healthy properties of the Olive Oil is lost.

LATEST AWARDS SA Olive Awards (South Africa)

Oakhurst Delicate Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Silver medal

Oakhurst Intense Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Silver medal

OLIVE WISDOM

How to recognise a good table olive

The table olive market in South Africa is just starting to flourish. The solid foundation will support its growth into a successful and valuable industry amongst the new olive producing countries.

Extra virgin olive oil has a set of standards or conditions, performed both in a laboratory and by a tasting panel, that have to be adhered to in order to bear the label ‘Extra Virgin’. The International Olive Oil Council (IOOC)

The Characteristics of a Quality Table Olive

The first characteristic of a product that we notice is, of course, appearance. This is a vital attribute that will make us decide whether to try the product or not. There is a movement amongst some consumers that precludes any fruit and vegetable product which looks too good. The aim should be to produce table olives that not only taste good, but that look as good as possible, these two characteristics are not mutually exclusive.

Smell

A well-prepared olive has a clean acceptable aroma. The aroma will give a good indication of how the processing was managed as most of the volatile components are a result of the fermentation process. In the absence of any fermentation, the aroma is usually that of the added ingredients, like garlic, herbs and various other flavourings. An off-fermentation will be noticeable on the nose, and any off-odour is totally unacceptable in quality table olives.

Taste

The taste and flavour of a food product is generally rather subjective – it depends on what one is accustomed to. When wine is consumed, the trend is often for non-wine drinkers to start with a sweeter wine, and then to progress to the more dry products. In the table olive sphere, the consumer not accustomed to olives, usually prefers a more bland product. Once hooked on these little delicacies, the consumer then seeks out products with a lot more flavour, the natural olive flavour in particular.

Texture/Tactile

An olive should have a degree of firmness in the flesh, without being tough or woody. The skin of the fruit should not be too tough, and the flesh should detach from the pit quite readily. The texture of an olive is determined by numerous factors, the most important of which are fruit ripeness when harvested, and cultivar. The methods of processing will then play an equally important role, which can either maintain the texture of the fruit or compromise it.