Early harvest: why picking time changes everything

Olives change through the season. They begin green and hard, turn purple, and finally go black and soft. The oil made at each stage is different — not slightly, but noticeably.

The trade a producer has to make

Green olives picked early carry more polyphenols — the compounds behind the oil's bitterness and pungency, which also act as natural antioxidants within the oil.

But green fruit holds less oil. The same tree, picked a month later, yields considerably more oil from the same quantity of fruit.

So a producer chooses: more oil with a milder taste and lower polyphenols, or less oil with a stronger taste and higher polyphenols. That choice shows up in the price, and it shows up in the flavour.

How to recognise early harvest oil

• A greener colour, though colour on its own proves nothing
• A green aroma — cut grass, tomato leaf, artichoke
• More pronounced bitterness at the back of the tongue
• Stronger pungency in the throat, sometimes enough to make you cough
• A higher polyphenol figure on the laboratory report

Why early harvest also means lower acidity

Over-ripe olives bruise and break more easily during picking and transport. That damage triggers the enzyme reactions that break down the fats, and that is what raises free acidity.

Firmer, early-picked fruit survives handling better. Combined with pressing soon after harvest, it is part of why some oils reach acidity well below the extra virgin limit.

Is early harvest always better

Not necessarily — it depends what you want. Early harvest oil has an assertive flavour that suits raw dishes, salads and dipping bread, where that flavour is the point.

For a delicate cake, or for someone trying olive oil for the first time, a milder oil may be easier to take to. Both are legitimate; it is not a hierarchy.

Polyphenol content varies by harvest season. It is a measure of quality, freshness and stability — we make no health claims from the figure.