These are medium-sized olives that will yield anywhere from 19 to 27% oil. The oil is considered good quality and to be of good flavour, with no bitterness. The colour of the oil will range from pale yellow to gold.
Empeltre Olives are also used for table olives. When being harvested for table use, they are left on the trees until the first week of November, when they will have ripened to a purple-black with a soft texture. Then they are cured and packaged, sometimes in olive oil, sometimes in Sherry.
They are grown in Catalonia, Spain and in Argentina.
History Notes
Empeltre Olives are native to Catalonia, Spain.
Language Notes
The name of the tree and the olive comes from a Catalonian word “empelt”, which means “to graft”. Given that all olive trees are propagated by grafting, it’s hard to know why this one tree was singled out for naming it this way.
