This past 12 months has been hectic as we expand our saffron production area and the olives have taken a bit of a back step, so even though we had fantastic fruit this year we didn't have time to pick it for table fruit.

I called in some mates from Wagga Wagga, who are experts are harvesting random under prepared groves and turning out excellent EVOO.
We only picked about 425 kg, just one day of picking, with electric rakes and shade cloth on the ground. While the main team, picked the Coratina and Picual, I rushed around with my hand picking bucket and grabbed all the Hojiblancas and Frantoio that I could, sadly I didn't have time to pick the Koroneiki.

Our olives produced 21% oil, which is an excellent amount, though 90L in total isn't a very usual volume for sales.
I wanted to blend it, but didn't have time before submission deadlines, so into Sydney Royal Fine Food Show for independent testing it went. Happily it won Silver.

Since then I've found a great olive to blend with, and in my next post I'll talk more about the blending process and what I am trying to achieve.