Many people love to treat themselves to olives, but few people know how to properly harvest olives. The Greeks were the first to use olive oil. They call the produced olive oil “liquid gold.” Gradually, the product spread throughout all countries of the world; it is actively used fresh, pickled and processed into oil.
When is the harvest
The harvest is harvested from September to December, depending on the growing area and variety. Olives begin to appear in the 4th-5th year of the growing season.From 50-150 kg of harvest is harvested from one tree; it lives for almost 600 years, and bears fruit for 50-150 years. It all depends on weather conditions and care. Olives and olives are the berries of the same tree. Just olives that are fully ripe, but green ones are not.
Picking green olives
The collection of green drupes is carried out at the end of September - beginning of October. Remove them until the berries begin to darken. They leave some of the trees for olive extraction or partially remove them.
Picking black olives
Black ripe olives are harvested from late November to early December. In good weather conditions, the collection is carried out in February. If the drupes have matured to the end, then they have a weak hold on the branches; knocking them off the shoots is much easier than collecting them individually. As soon as the berries begin to fall and the black color has covered the entire olive, the harvest begins.
Required Tools
To manually harvest olives, you need the following tools:
- Box with rope around the neck;
- Ladder;
- Protective glasses against the sun and flying fruit.
To collect olives you need:
- The canvas is at least 12 m in diameter;
- Special comb;
- Ladder for apical fruits.
For machine collection:
- The canvas is 12 meters in diameter;
- A machine with a tapping mechanism on the barrel or an electric comb;
- Safety glasses to protect against flying fruit.
How are olives harvested?
Green olives are harvested by hand and machine. With the manual method, workers collect the crops in 25 kg boxes. They climb trees, use ladders and try to collect as much as possible. Next, all the berries are placed on a conveyor, which sorts them by size and cleans them of leaves and debris. Damaged and beaten olives are processed and oil is made from them. For 1 liter of this oil there are 11 kg of fruit.
The machine method is not welcomed by all farmers. The machine mechanism knocks on wood, drupes fall off. When falling, damaged fruits become larger.
Branch “combs” connected to a motor are also used. They get the job done in no time. Such work requires a lot of strength, so a woman cannot do it. They are combed out along with small twigs and leaves. Before work, a canvas is laid out under the wood. After dropping the drupes onto the ground, they are cleared of twigs and leaves, then packaged in cloth bags.
Olives grow on the same tree as green olives. They're just more mature. After harvesting the green crop, a 12-meter-long canvas is laid under the tree. Then wait for the fruit to fully ripen. Some of them fall off on their own, the rest are collected manually. Those fruits that grow high are combed out with a special comb. The olives are then collected and moved to a sorting conveyor. There they are sorted by size and cleared of debris and leaves.
Harvest storage
Olive cannot be stored in the fresh air for long. Maximum period 3 days. Storage baskets are lined with paper. Then they are transported and tried to be sent for processing as quickly as possible. If this is not possible, then the storage period is extended and the crop is placed in the refrigerator. This is to preserve the fruits for 7 days.
Usage
After the harvest, the olives are sold to factories. There they are pickled and canned, which are often used as an addition to a dish or snack. Olive oil is squeezed from damaged and bruised fruits.
In countries where olive trees are common and grow in every area, it is customary to use this oil for all purposes: for frying, for dressing salads, for marinating meat.
Olives are rich in beneficial microelements, improve intestinal function, and improve skin condition. Their collection is quite labor-intensive; in many countries where production is widespread, they still resort to manual collection. It is believed that this method is more reliable and causes less damage to olives.
