Beginners and experienced cooks alike know that olive oil is one of the most important ingredients in the kitchen. It can be used for cooking, in salad dressings and sauces and in so many other dishes. Despite this, you may be new to olive oil from early harvesting. Katerina Mountanos, a certified olive oil expert with Mediterranean roots, has created her own brand under the name Kosterina, which harnesses the potential of early-harvest olive oil in the beauty industry as well as in cooking.
Early harvest olive oil is a type of extra virgin type, which, as the name suggests, will start to be removed from the tree sooner. The harvest period usually lasts from October to February, but in this case it ends in December. Mountanos notes that at this time the olives are still immature, as indicated by the darker green colouring. But then what is the use? Well, as it turns out, they are healthier and tastier when picked earlier.
The benefits of early harvest olive oil
While there may not seem to be much difference between October and, say, January, we couldn't be more wrong. Mountanos says: „Early harvesting (and a very specific milling process) is key to producing the best quality extra virgin olive oil.” One of the benefits of this is that when the olives are still immature, they have the highest polyphenol content, which means this is when they have the most health benefits. Polyphenols are natural compounds found in some plant-based foods, and they also act as antioxidants - in other words, they may help prevent certain diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Beyond the health benefits, early harvest olive oil tastier too, because they produce less juice, which means that more olives are needed to produce a bottle. As a result, they are healthier and tastier because they are more concentrated - and this is reflected in the price. Not surprisingly, therefore, they also have a more intense, robust flavour.
