FAQs

In your ORO SICANI Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil we cold-press the following blend of EU-certified olive varietals:

Nocellara del Belice – these olives give a luxurious “creaminess” to the EVOO, a fruity aroma, and a gentle nutty flavour;

Biancolilla – these olives give the most yield of EVOO, a fruity aroma, and a light herbaceous taste;

Cerasuola – these olives give a robustness to the EVOO, a bold, peppery aroma, and add spicy bitterness;

Piricuddara – these olives give an earthy, grassy flavour, and is native to the Sicani Mountain region (it’s hard to grow at lower altitudes). This varietal alsos help to pollinate the Nocellara del Belice olive trees.

We asked the same question when we were getting started! The more research we did, along with several consultations we had seasoned olive growers and agricultural experts, the resounding advice was that multi-cultivar (i.e. many olive tree types) is best for both the trees’ growth and the type of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) you make.

By planting different olive varietals in a grove, the different trees help to support each other, where hardier varieties help to stabilise more sensitive varieties. The olive tree varieties also help to cross-pollinate each other, strengthening the olive trees and adding nuance to their olives’ natural flavour.

As a result, the multi-cultivar olive grove makes for a considerably better EVOO because the different varieties have their own flavour profiles and, combined, create a bold, balanced, beautifully distinctive EVOO.

EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and this is what we make. EVOO is a type of olive oil: the highest quality of all of the forms of olive oil because it has no organoleptic defects, has a fruity flavour overall, and an acidity level less than 0.8%. Another requirement for olive oil before it can be classed as EVOO is that it must be cold-pressed by mechanical means. No heat or other processing can be applied, and certainly no additives (just olives).

When it comes to harvesting, the olives need to be taken as soon as possible (within 24 hours) straight to the oleificio (olive oil mill) to be washed with water, the foliage removed by machine, and then straight into a crushing machine that pulverises the olives. This olive "mash" is then physically cold-pressed by machine into superior quality olive oil. This is the EVOO that we make.

Olive oil/blends that we don't make are the broader category of olive-derived olive oils. This lesser quality olive oil doesn’t have to contain 100% olives in the oil, it can be a blend of refined oils + virgin olive oil, it may have been treated with some heat, or, it could be a completely virgin olive oil but not quite an EVOO because it has slight defects and an acidity >0.8%).

Olive harvesting season typically runs from October-January of the following year, but this is always subject to the weather. Early season harvest describes the moment when olives are starting to ripen, which is usually in late October/early November, but this can be later in the year depending on the varietal and the climate conditions of that year.

Early season harvest is regarded as the best because the olives have a highly concentrated composition and they contain less moisture content than olives harvested later in the season. These factors collectively give you the highest quality EVOO.