How To Pick Olives From Your Tree In North Cyprus

DAY 1 OF OLIVE WEEK

Now is the time when olives are ready to be picked in Northern Cyprus, at the end of the summer after the first rains, which is normally late October or early November. Eating olives from your own trees or using the oil pressed from them makes the taste all the more satisfying.  Many olive trees are hundreds of years old, and they are a protected tree in Northern Cyprus. 

Before you start to pick your olives, you need to decide whether you want to cure some of

them, or use them all to make olive oil. Curing means to “crack” the olive and effectively pickle it in salted water, which make a lovely starter or Meze.  If you want to cure some of your olives, you need to pick them slightly earlier, so that they are green, straight from the tree. Green olives are not yet ripe, whereas black olives are ripe and the best for making olive oil. All olives, black, green, squashed or half eaten are fine for making olive oil, as the process sanitises the oil before it is bottled.

Remember – NEVER eat olives straight from the tree, or without processing them first. They are extremely bitter and will probably give you stomach problems.

Things you will need to pick your olives:

• Tarpaulin or a piece of plastic sheeting
• Ladder
• Basket or bucket
• Broom handle or long stick (optional)

Method One

Spread your plastic under the olive tree. Try to get as close to the trunk as possible, and then spread the sheet out so that it is underneath the branches furthest from the trunk. This will allow you to catch the falling olives from the tree.

Hand pick the under-ripe (green) olives from the tree if you wish to cure your olives. Make sure that they have not been eaten anywhere and that they are not bruised. You can set these aside in a bag so that they are separate from the others that you are going to use for oil. 

To pick olives from the tree, pull them quite firmly from at the base of the olive. Try not to pull off lots of leaves or to damage the tree. Place the olives in a bucket or basket. Use your ladder to reach the upper branches of the trees, ensuring that your ladder is propped against secure, thick branches or the trunk of the tree. 

As you are picking, you will notice that a lot of olives, particularly the black olives fall off the tree onto your plastic sheet. This is not a problem, as you can gather them later. For the olives you cannot reach, or when you have picked most of the green ones, you can then shake the branches or gently beat the tree with a broom handle to dislodge the remaining olives. 

To collect your olives from the plastic sheeting, you will need two people. Pick up an end each so that all of the olives roll to the middle of the sheet. Put the sheet down and then pick out any large branches, or any large bunches of leaves. It is fine to have some leaves mixed in with your olives, as the olive processing plant separates the leaves from the olives anyway. Place a large bucket or basket at one end of the plastic and slowly tip the olives into it until it is full. Continue until all of the olives are in the bucket. I find it is easier to use a black bin for this, then you can transfer your olives into smaller bags or buckets later. 

Method Two

Some people believe that the olives picked in the way above do not produce “perfect” olive oil. If you want to ensure that your olive oil is as perfect as possible, you need to take care not to bruise the olives, and only use those that are intact and that have not been squashed or eaten by insects or birds. To do this, you need several people to stand around the tree holding up a large plastic sheet, whilst one or more people shake the tree. As the olives fall, their descent is cushioned by the fact that they are only hitting the soft plastic, and not the ground, so they do not bruise as easily. I personally believe that the oil is perfectly good enough with the first method, as with the second method, a lot of the olives are wasted or not used because they are not perfect.