Did You Know that Most Italian Olive Oil Comes from Spain?

Spain, The World’s Biggest Olive Oil Producer.

Spain is the leading producer of olive fruit’s golden juice in the world. Olive oil happens to be the main ingredient of Mediterranean cuisine. The country produces around half the total olive oil produced around the globe. Spain exports about 46 per cent of its total production of olive oil. It makes the country the leading exporter and producer of olive oil in the world. Now, many countries like Italy and Greece, buy the olives from Spain to make the oil and sell it as if it was “Italian” or “Greek”.

The Biggest Olive Oil Producer in the European Union

The county has also been the largest producer of olive oil in the European Union from 2015 to 2018. It contributed to 63 per cent of the entire olive oil production in the EU. In these three years, Spain’s average production of olive oil touched 1.3 million tons every year. 

Olive’s natural oil is procured from its healthy and fresh flowers. Virgin olive oil is considered to be one of the essential ingredients of the country’s gastronomy. The oils’ wide variety of flavours and aromas, health, and culinary versatility have been appreciated and acknowledged by nutritionists, gourmets, and chefs from all over the world. 

Why is Spain Best for Growing Olives?

The climate and geography of Spain, with its hot long summers, cold or mild winters, and massive mountain slopes, are perfect for cultivating olive. The tradition of cultivating olive existed even before the time the Romans ruled over Spain. However, Romans can be given credits for developing oil production and extending cultivation. Therefore, the tradition of cultivating olive has been revitalized now. 

All over Spain, over 350 million olives are cultivated. In some locations of Andalusia, olive orchards are extensively grown. The landscape here is breathtaking and outstanding. 

Over the years, there have been some significant qualitative changes that have taken place in Spain. These changing trends will play an essential role in the future of the global olive-growing industry. The oil sector in Spain has witnessed a complex resolution in recent decades. 

Changes in Olive-Growing Strategies

The country has emphasized the outcomes of scientific experimentation and progress. These steps have helped Spain raise the diversity and the quality of olive oils to an unprecedented level. 

Drip irrigation, eco-friendly growing practices, integrated production, and sophisticated growing systems have resulted in almost perfect olives. These are carefully harvested when they are ripe, as only then can the oil content offer maximum flavours and aromas. 

Apart from careful harvesting and tending of olive, innovative extraction technology is being used based on the variety of the fruit. Each type of fruit should have varying degrees of ripeness to yield oil of higher quality. 

Spain is cultivating native varieties of olive and is also growing other olive types from the Mediterranean belt. Doing so has led to diverse flavours and aromas of Spanish olive oils. Some of these are the incredibly popular Frantoio from Tuscany and Greek Koroneiki. 

Almost 50 per cent of the world’s olive oil is cultivated in Spain. The country’s 1/4th of the total area is used to grow olive oil, producing more than 260 varieties. As mentioned earlier, almost half its production is exported. That also means that one out of each bottle in the globe has Spanish olive oil.

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