Olive Oil Explain This Please.

[Johnny Lee]

I am not one to question prices here , in fact the opposite. Very happy in general with choice and prices. Of course the dreadful exchange rate as created huge inflation, but even when I first came here 9 years ago I was amazed at how expensive Olive Oil is.

We are surrounded by Olives and from what people say this year will be a good one for them. Yet the supermarket price is around 28 TL per Lt upwards. Outdoor market around 22 TL.

Checking our invoices for our Restaurant in the UK and we are paying 6.99 pounds for 5 Lts. That's not a warehouse or cash and carry its a local discount food store. Spanish Olive Oil. I am sure theirs is just as good.

I make this equivalent to approx 6.50 T.L.per Lt.

[Ragged Robin]

Cannot give an answer, JL, I only hope someone can as it has always puzzled me too. The only thing I can suggest is the methods of collecting an bottling may be less cost effective here, or that there have been several years of poor crop due to weather and they make up for it on the good years.

I do find the oil here has more flavour than those I used to buy so long ago in UK - so much so that when using for cooking something with a delicate flavour I mix it half and half with sunflower or corn oil to prevent overwhelming the flavour of the dish!

[waddo]

Can't explain it but you may find your oil in the UK going up in price in the near future - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -roof.html - this has not hit Cyprus YET and all are worried about it. It not only destroys the olives but also the trees need to be destroyed to stop the spread, not good.

Out of interest on the picking side, try this as it has some good information in it - http://www.casaolea.com/blog/olive-harvest-spain - but remember that not all olives are picked by hand. There are a few types of machine around that beat the s*it out of the trees and some drag the olives down and others just give the whole tree a damn good shake.

Why is the oil here so expensive - I don't have a clue but I do know that all of my visitors take back at least 2 liters each with them when they return, not the stuff from the shops but the stuff that we break our backs each winter collecting the olives, then having them pressed and at last setting down in big drums in a cool dark place so we have oil all year round. I have never tasted finer oil than that which comes hot out of the press and is poured onto fresh bread at the press when you do your first pressing of the year. You will always see a smile on everyone's face at first pressing, even if all they have managed to collect is one carrier bag full of olives, they still get some oil!!! If you do it yourself then please remember to give away the first couple of liters to somebody who has no olive trees, traditions should be kept alive!

[Jonnie]

It ook my wife and I a whole day to pick 40kgs of olives which produced about 5 liters of seriously good oil. I think it cost something like 20 lira at he press. Some insight there perhaps

[kbasat]

Its all has to do with the fact that olives are picked the old fashioned way (hand picked) here.

Take Jonnie's case and substitute him and his wife with 2 workers: They would surely cost 100TL per day + 20TL for press (not counting petrol and other expenses). 5Lt of 'seriously good oil' would have cost 44TL per liter in this example.

I am assuming experienced workers are able to collect a lot more than 40kg of olives per day, but even if 2 workers collect 150kg of olives per day and achieve 5-1 olive to olive oil ratio, you end up getting about 30kgs of olive oil which brings about 750TL in retail market.

Now Imagine:
Having to look after olive trees for a year (watering, pruning)
The value of owning of an olive tree that produces olives in the first place (the investment, land used, etc)
2 Workers for collecting olives (min 200TL in daily fees, with possibly lunch costs, transportation etc)
Equipment and tools for collecting olives (truck, sacks, etc)
pressing costs (including labor and petrol for delivery)
bottling costs
marketing costs

---

I am sure I missed a few costs, and some can be further detailed down. You should quickly realize that there is not much profit margin in olive oil business.

K.

[Lambousa Market]

There's a couple of other factors as well:

Firstly, olive trees tend to produce one good crop every two years, not annually.

Secondly, most of the olive production in the TRNC is organic: not by design but by tradition. So we have smaller crops than the industrial producers in the Western Mediterranean.

So think of it as artisanal olive-oil. Certainly the flavour justifies that.

[cjtill]

Looking at the posts above, this is a prime example where you should "Take coals to Newcastle"

Instead of your friends taking back olive oil to the UK after their holidays, they should in fact be buying it at Tesco and bringing it out with them !!!
Michael

[Muad_dib]

I heard that last year wasn't very good as regards olives,maybe that explains the high price,so of course the price will drop with the next bumper crop.(ha ha ha)

[Groucho]

Nobody here seems to want any locals to make a decent living.... It's mostly lots of small producers trying to do so - God forbid that a large conglomerate takes it all over to cut production costs (jobs), removes competition and we have no artisan oils left to enjoy. They might be cheaper but who wants all the same flavour?

[waddo]

"Instead of your friends taking back olive oil to the UK after their holidays, they should in fact be buying it at Tesco and bringing it out with them !!!"

The first thing is that you can not purchase KKTC produced olive oil in Tescos! The second thing is that if you want olive oil for the masses then you can buy that anywhere, not just Tescos. Finally, this is the only place in the world you can buy KKTC produced olive oil and once you have used it and tasted along with partaking of the production of it - you never want to have any other olive oil.

"Coals to Newcastle" therefore is totally wrong as olive oil from here is not exported and it was because Newcastle was the UK's first coal exporting port that the saying (Carry coals to Newcastle) came about.

[Kip]

Last year was a bad year but not sure if this year will be any better in view of the hotter weather.

[Groucho]

Last year was a bad year but not sure if this year will be any better in view of the hotter weather.

The trees around us are absolutely bursting with fruit.

[Jonnie]

My crop is poor this year.

[Johnny Lee]

8 of our trees are very poor but the other 3 are OK but have been picking in the mountains and just got back from the Press with almost 4 Ltrs from 35 KG. Crystal Clear and dark Olive green. and just 10 TL to have them pressed. Wish I new how to post photo. It is supposedly a very good year due to the heavy rain in winter and recent rains to swell them.

Good luck pickers.

[jamboree]

The olive oil in Cyprus is the best you can. Easy comparison is single malt whisky and blended whisky. The single malt is always the best. The oils by the gallon in the super markets are blended as well not pure, like our home produced olive oil.

[Groucho]

My understanding is that each year one seventh of the trees should be pollarded so that new growth promotes a healthy olive harvest to follow.... So if you have your own trees it's worth looking into this need for tree management...

Gavin Croucher (Groucho)

[johnny1]

10tl to get olives pressed?where is that please....and is that for any amount or per kilo?

[Johnny Lee]

Its the Olive press at Karsiyaka, in fact on checking I got 5 Lts. from 35 kg. price is dependent on weight. don't know if its a set rate but always reasonable and interesting to watch your own oil coming through the tubes.

[Hippocampus]

Is there a minimum weight? Our crop is paltry this year.

[Johnny Lee]

Normally if you only have a small amount and not worth being pressed on their own, they will, (if they have stock) give you their own fresh oil and charge you the difference in your weight and the amount of oil you buy. Hope this makes sense.

[Johnny Lee]

Back to the top for Maggie and anyone else, Maggie there is a press at Karaganolou (probably spelled wrong) but have found the one at Karsiayaka (probably also spelled wrong) much better.

[Fesenjan123]

What are the opening times for the olive press in Karsiyaka?
So you take your own bottles for the press to put the oil in! Sorry if this sounds ignorant but this is a new area for me and I have some olive trees so would like to get some olive oil.

[Johnny Lee]

It is good to take your own containers, but depends on the amount you have , they do provide containers . Sorry not sure of opening hours, Sundays at present are busy, and early day is better. Because very often later in the day lots of people are having there crop weighed in.

Rule of thumb is 10 KG =1 Ltr. but I got 5 Ltrs from approx 35 KG.

[Jonnie]

What are the opening times for the olive press in Karsiyaka?
So you take your own bottles for the press to put the oil in! Sorry if this sounds ignorant but this is a new area for me and I have some olive trees so would like to get some olive oil.

The press had its contact number on the door so you could phone up. It is OK to have your Olives off the tree for a couple of days.

Our olives have some sort of blight this year, they are all misshaped but I am told they will still be Ok for oile. Anyone else have the same issue?

[Mimi2]

We only have 2 small olive trees. They have yielded 15KG of olives total. Can this small amount be pressed?
If so which press will take small amount please

[dippersgirl]

I don't know about your way but here in the Karpaz you can, but the have a minimum charge of 30tl, it would be better if you can find some more or go together with a neighbour. our friends here had 20kg - got 5l and we had 30kg got 8l. The Olive Mill in Kuruova in the Karpaz pressed them separately. COLD pressed and therefore EXTRA VIRGIN OIL and of course it is more expensive - and its wonderful. When it just says Olive Oil on the bottle it is a different pressing, possibly heated, not the same!!!
http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-diff ... uth-218767

https://oliveoilsource.com/article/firs ... 0%99s-fact

[SunnyParkers]

We had a good crop this year and having read the previous posts we seem to have had a much greater yield of oil too - we got 26litres from 98 kg of olives

[wedinnorthcyprus]

Picked mine yesterday and had them pressed last night 47 kg of olives = 16ltrs of oil