News from Sparti for the 2024 crop.
As you may know, this years temperatures have been higher and rain has been sparse. Thanks to our investment in drip irrigation, we have been able to offset the the heat and drought somewhat to minimize the negative impact to the crop volume.
Additional efforts include controlling the pests by spraying the trunks of the trees with molasses and hanging several canisters of water from each tree with our special non-toxic recipe to attract and get rid of most of the bugs. And throughout the year, clear the groves of weeds and where possible open the groves to sheep and goats that eat some of the unwanted vegetation and of course leave behind fantastic manure.
As in past years, we adhere to our proven and successful processing of:
- harvest earlier in the harvest year.
- wash and crush the olives the same day at a local production facility.
- only use the juice from the “first pressing” of the olives.
- do not add any heat to the process “cold pressed”.
- “unfiltered”.
- store in a dark and cool location.
- ship in bulk to Canada.
- bottle and package in Ontario, Canada.
While we wait for the 2024 harvest, the 2023 product is on the shelves at our fantastic retail partners in Canada. (see store locator). New to our list of retail locations is most of GTA Longo’s locations.
The fruit of our labour over the years has consistantly resulted in:
- EVOO high in polyphenols.
- Greenish in colour.
- Grassy, mildly bitter and peppery taste.
And here are some nice recipes for SRH’s EVOO.