Olive oil processing

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Olive oil processing

• Professor Alsaed A.K.
• University of Jordan

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Jordanian olive oil industry

• Introduction
• Olive tree is considered the most important tree
  in Jordan.
• Total area cultivated with olives is estimated at
  about 645000 donum, constituting 71 of the area
  planted with fruit trees and 26 of the total
  planted area.
• The total No. of olive trees in the country is
  about 12m, producing 180000 tone olive fruits
  where 30000 tone is used for pickling and the
  rest is used for oil pressing giving about 20000
  to 28000 tone of olive oil
• The olive fruit average production per 1 donum is
  about 205 kg which is considered relatively low.

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• The country reached recently (year 2000) to
  self-sufficiency with regard to olive oil and a
  surplus of about 7000 tone/year is recorded
• Due to the new planting of olives in the last 15
  years(1990-2004) the olive cultivated area
  increased to about 177
• 77 of the olive trees take their need of water
  from raining fall where as the rest (23) are
  being irrigated
• Consumption of olive oil (per capita) in Jordan
  is considered low(4 kg/year) compared to 7 kg in
  Syria and 20 kg in Greece

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Drawbacks of the Jordanian olive sector

• The Jordanian olive sector faces some drawbacks
  such as
• A. The production cost is high due to the high
  cost for fertilizers, pesticides, employee and
  irrigation water
• B. The low productivity of the olive tree grown
  in Jordan(15-30kg)
• C. The low quality of a major part of the locally
  produced olive oil due to some incorrect
  practices such as rough handling and improper
  harvesting (methods and timing), unsuitable
  packing, transportation and storage of the olive
  fruit

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• D. The research activities regarding the
  Jordanian olive sector are still in their infancy
  stage compared with other olive producing
  countries i.e. research institutes are not
  existing, limited number of specialized
  laboratories for quality characterizing of olive
  oil are available etc
• E. The competitivety of the Jordanian olive
  oil in the international markets is low since
  major part of the quantity available for
  exporting does not comply with the international
  standards
• F. The other olive products like olive pickles
  and other olive by-products i.e olive meal or
  cake or olive water are not utilized efficiently

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Olive varieties grown in Jordan

• The number of common varieties cultivated in the
  country reaches to about 20.
• The most popular variety is Nabali where oil
  percentage reaches to about 34
• Another two varieties having excellent olive
  flavor are Quanbeesi and Souri
• Nasohi gabaa2 is considered the best for green
  and black pickles purposes
• Ascolano, Santcatrine and Santaugastine are the
  best for pickled olive paste processing

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• Raseeai variety (improved Nabali) is used for
  both oil production (olive percentage may reach
  to 28) and pickling
• Nabali, Raseeai and Grossadi (Spain) are the
  varieties that can tolerate dry conditions
  whereas Nasohi gabaa2 are suitable for high
  attitudes and high precipitation (rainfall)
  areas.
• On the other hand, Turkish origin varieties such
  as Ivolic, Jaker and Ormjek suit deserts and can
  be irrigated with salty water

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Insects and Diseases

• Insects infestation and diseases spreadibility
  are considered relatively low in Jordan compared
  with other olive producing countries
• Such decrease in diseases and pest infestation
  might be due mainly to the low relative humidity
  prevalent for several months in the olive
  cultivated areas
• In some years intensive infestation may occur for
  olive trees encountering water shortage and grown
  outside their suitable area

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Olive harvesting

• Harvesting is conducted either manually or
  mechanically. Manual methods in spite of their
  advantages in having almost intact and sound
  fruits but they are costly and constitute about
  40 of the total production cost
• The mechanical harvesting is practiced widely in
  the developed countries and on small scale in the
  underdeveloped countries where it is
  characterized by being costly

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• Improper harvesting is probably the most
  significant problem facing the olive sector
  either on national or international scale
• Sometimes incorrect practices are being used in
  olive harvesting such as using sticks or
  gathering and combining fallen and infested or
  diseased olive fruits with those harvested
  freshly from the trees

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• It is well established that for olive oil
  production, fruits should be harvested according
  to the ripening equation which was developed by
  the Spanish olive research center
• By using this equation, the proper harvesting
  time is determined by computing the change in
  color of the olive fruits. Proper harvesting time
  is reached when this change in color is about 60
  -70
• Unfortunately, many of the Jordanian olive
  farmers are not familiar with this equation which
  affects significantly the quality of the produced
  olive oil

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Olive postharvest treatment

• Packing, transportation and storage of olive
  fruit
• The proper pack for olive fruit is the ventilated
  plastic box. Although it is used by some
  Jordanian olive farmers, major part of Jordanian
  farmers use the jute or plastic bag with
  inefficient ventilation
• Due to the short period of the olive season (4-6
  weeks), sometimes the olive fruits are stored
  under unsuitable conditions (high temperature,
  low relative humidity, unsuitable packs,
  inefficient ventilation etc leading to inferior
  olive oil quality) for a relatively long time
  (3-10 days)

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• Pressing
• According to the international olive oil
  standard, virgin olive oil is defined as the oil
  obtained from olives using mechanical or physical
  methods only and under specific conditions
• Pressing includes many steps such as feeding,
  washing, crushing and milling, paste mixing or
  malefaction, separation of the phases, separation
  of the oil from the musty and filtration, filling
  and storage

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• Three types of olive press are being used for
  olive oil production i.e the pressure process,
  centrifugation process, combined method or what
  is called sinolea or selective filtration or
  percolation method
• Total No. of olive press in Jordan is about 107,
  with a capacity of about 300 tone/hr. Part of
  these presses were established before 1990 and it
  is old and produce about 40 of the produced
  olive oil. The second part of presses was
  established between 1990 and 2000 they have new
  technology and press about 40 of the olive oil.
  The 3rd part of the presses was established after
  2001 and use highly sofisticated technology and
  produce about 20 of the olive oil

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Table no. 1. Some sensory chemical quality
properties of olive oil as is in the modified
local specification
Lampanti virgin olive oil Ordinary virgin olive oil Virgin olive oil Extra virgin olive oil
Some Sensorychemical properties
Average 6.0 2.5 Average6.0 0.0 Average2.5 0.0 Defects(Average)
lt 0.0 lt 0.0 Fruity (Average)
lt 3.3 3.3 2.0 0.8 Free acidity
unlimited 20 20 20 Peroxide No.
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Table No. 2.Olive oil profile form used to
evaluate the sensory properties (to be filled by
the taster)
Defects perception intensity
Heated-up
Mouldy
Metalic
Rancid
Positive attribute perception
Fruity
Bitter
Pungent
Taster name Sample code Date
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Table no. 3. The area production of olives
oil production in the years between 1996- 2002
Production from oil (Thousand Tone) Production of fruit (Tone) Total Area (donom) Year
14.2 88590 547821 1996
9.1 57145 616.170 1997
22 137549 626040 1998
5.2 38313 632599 1999
18.3 134285 637529 2000
10.5 65820 641010 2001
28.9 180900 644840 2002
15.9 82898.5 Average
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Table No.4.the Jordanian market of olive oil in
the years between(1996- 2002)
Local Price (JD/ Kg) Consumption (Thousand Tone) Imports ( Tone) Production ( Thousand Tone)
2.625 22 89.4 23
2.625 19 2199 14.1
2.5 19 3438 21.
2.5 9 173 6.6
2.25 20 - 27.2
2.15 18 - 15.4
1.65 (23) (8)
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Table No.5. Evaluation of the local olive presses
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Figure 1. The manual picking of olives
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Figure 2. The using of combs for the picking of
olives
22
Figure 3. The using of mechanical combs for
olives picking
23
Figure 4. The using of mechanical combs for
olives picking
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Figure 5. The using of ladders for olives picking
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Figure 6. The using of ladders for olives picking
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Figure 7. The mechanical harvesting of olives
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Figure 8. The mechanical harvesting of olives
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Figure 9. The using of stick for olives picking
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Figure 10. Steps of the extraction of olive oil
by pressing method
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Figure 11. Steps for the extraction of olive oil
by centrifugation method
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Figure 12. Steps for the extraction of olive oil
by senoila method
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Figure 13. The producing countries of olive oil
Producer countries of olive oil
1020
1050
900
750
Thousand Ton
600
558
450
410
300
150
103
60
60
15
50
45
40
10
8
7
6
.
5
5
0
Tunisia
PORTUGAL
Greece
Cyprus
Jordan
Spain
Libya
Syria
Turkey
Argentine
Lebanon
Morocco
Argentine
33
Figure14. The main producers of olive oil
Main Producers
Other countries
18
Spain
42
Greece
17
Italy
23
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Figure 15. The main importer countries of olive
oil
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Figure 16. Exports imports of the 3 main
producers of olive oil
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Figure 17. The main exporters of olive oils
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Figure 18. Quantities of olive oil consumed all
over the world
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Figure 19. The Countries that form the
untraditional market of olive oil
The Untraditional Markets
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Figure 20. The Global local prices of olive oil
Global Local Prices of Olive Oils
40
Figure 21. Consumption from olive oil other
vegetable oils
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Figure 22. The Jordanian exports of olive oil
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Figure 23. The main market of the Jordanian olive
oil exports