The English Olive Press; April ‘26
Welcome to the April edition of The English Olive Press where we review the last months activity at The English Olive Co. The start of Spring has been a bit stop start, but the trees are waking up and work in the grove starts to ramp up.
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Early March gave us signs that spring had arrived, but then cold winds reminded us that patience is needed before helping the trees with their spring growth through water and nutrition applications too soon. We have had some lovely 15C days in the olive grove and also days when 2 coats are needed and frost is on the ground. Every week we also seem to get blasted by strong winds, with some especially cold when coming from the north. Trees that have broken their support band are tied back up. While the trees are still relatively young they are still flexible enough and no lasting damage has been caused. While walking up and down the lines of trees, not only is it good for getting the ‘steps’ in, but it also allows a good inspection of most of the trees. A few of the trees are looking off colour and leaves curling - I think this is a result of the cold weather. Time will tell if these trees will survive or not, but some have been trimmed to different levels to see if this helps or hinders their recovery, if recovery is possible. Location of the trimming trial trees has been recorded so we can monitor and learn.
Spring frosts, strong winds and the possible signs of cold affecting some of the trees.
Towards the end of last month we were featured in Country Life magazine where Giulia Crouch kindly wrote about our olive grove and our first pressing of olive oil last year. Giulia is a food writer, a foodie, loves olive oil, and has just completed and passed her olive oil sommelier course - congratulations Giulia. In her article she mentions that a warming climate was one of the reasons for us establishing our 18,000 olive tree grove. Our grove was established for three main reasons; 1) To ensure we have crops on our farm that can work better with the warmer and drier climate we seem to be experiencing more frequently. 2) To have our own brand so we can participate in the whole supply chain from growing, bottling to marketing. 3) To provide alternative opportunities for future generations of our family on the farm, and hopefully continue our 250 year farming heritage.
We were also very lucky to have olive grower, olive oil sommelier and world wide olive judge Anastasios Katsaitis call in and visit us one blustery morning on his way back to London! Anastasios is from Greece and has generations of olive growing and tasting experience. He travels around the world visiting some of the customers of his own olive oil, and also being invited as a judge in olive oil competitions. Anastasios kindly shared some of his growing knowledge with us and we did a small taste test! He was very complimentary about our olive oil, enjoying the peppery after tone and the smooth / creamy texture and the fresh grassy / woody aromas. We will keep in touch and continue to learn from him and our many other overseas colleagues and friends.
The English Olive Co featured in Country Life magazine. Olive Oil sommelier and world wide olive oil judge Anastasios visits.
Borough Market in London (not far from London Bridge and The Shard) is a must visit for anyone who loves their food. David paid the market a visit and in particular sought out the three shops / stalls that sell olives and olive oil. It was great to chat to the merchandisers, learn which products were their best sellers and also to taste some of their different olive oils. The UK taste for oils has mainly be exposed to vegetable oils, and so the majority of the population are only used to oils with mild flavours, and these oils may have also been refined. Each variety of olive has a different taste, and the taste can also be influenced by the ripeness of the olive at harvest time and also how long the crop is milled for, when the oil extraction takes place.
Green olives (less mature) will maintain more of their inherent flavour and health benefits, but will yield less oil as the olives are still not fully ripe. Olives that have blushed into the red/brown or even black colour are a lot more ripe, and will have lost some of their flavour profiles, but will have a higher oil content as they are more ripe. Picking out an oil that suits your taste is the key, but a single variety olive oil from a single olive grove will give you the best of the flavour, the best of the health benefits and the best food provenance. We hope the English weather allows our olive grove to once again flower, fruit and yield some amazing olives for us to hopefully harvest and bottle at the end of this year.
David visits Borough Market, London. The English Olive Co Tote Bag now available.
In the last couple of days we have been featured in The Times newspaper, and we are very grateful to all of you who have since started following us on social media, subscribing to these Newsletters and buying products and mechandise from our online shop. lf you would like to visit our website shop, then please look out for the new printed Tote Bag which has just been added!
We wish you all a Happy Easter and we look forward to supporting the olive trees growth this month, helping them with water and nutrition as needed.
Best wishes,
David