I'd be interested to know about extracting Oleuropein from the leaves. Can this be done on a small scale? Is it an additional crop or does it affect the harvest of fruits etc etc
Spain is losing its tiny mind, and it's health, moving away from olive oil over to sunflower oil.
It's all down to price of course. I firmly believe that prices of olive oil need to be higher to keep the industry sustainable, but with recent big drops in supply, it's clearly too much of a price hike, too soon.
The govt tried to intervene and dropped the VAT, whoopee, but that did nothing. The supermarkets have been quite socially responsible and are selling oil at what must be below market rate. Or they are getting back door subsidies, or they are including non virgin olive oil in their numbers. But whatever the shenanigans it's not keeping the country on EVOO..
Slowly, slowly, suddenly the balance has flipped away from a staple health food for centuries to a cheap and cheerless alternative. Maybe it will slip back?
Got to make the small olive growers profitable without having to gouge the customer. It's always been so. That's where a mobile chicken farm on an olive grove shines, as I intend to prove..Double incentivised now to make it work.
#chickens #olives #Spain https://www.huffingtonpost.es/sociedad/adios-aceite-oliva-espana-dan-finalizado-reinado-sentencian-cual-sucesor.html
Discussion
Never thought of that for further exploiting the fruit and leaves! It wouldn't affect the crop, at least no more than pressing the olives for oil, or drying the leaves for tea.
I have no idea on the investment required. This is a picture of the process, maybe you have seen it before. Doesn't look mega, but doesn't look like a domestic process either.
Have you got olives?