Olives coming to market

Normally on a farmer's return to market they come bearing the fruits of their labour, literally, but that's not the case with olives. Olives are inedible straight off the tree due to their high concentration of oleuropein compounds, which give olives their bitterness and their many health benefits.

Harvest for us involves long hours of picking olives each day for over 2 months, as the different varieties become ready. Some varieties are picked green, like Sevillano, while some varieties are picked black, like Kalamata. Once they are off the tree they go straight into a salty water brine, where the natural yeasts and other micro-organism initiate a wild fermentation. Then we wait! 

As we are located in the Victorian High Country, our olives take a minimum of 18 months for the fermentation process to complete, the bitterness levels to reduce and to become the delicious flavour bombs our customers love.

What will we be bringing to market?

We are pleased to have our 'new release' 2019 Saffron and Lemon Myrtle olives. These have been out of stock for the last 6 months while we've waited for them to reach the end of their fermentation journey, but as they are our most awarded olive and a crowd favourite, I can be certain they’ll be quickly snapped up! 

We will also have our saffron extract, however not using new season saffron due to the saffron compounds modifying as they age. New season saffron gives great colour, but the rest of the flavours haven't developed yet. They need a little age before reaching their true magical level.  

With olive and saffron harvest using much of our time throughout the months, our specialty products such as quince paste and comfort caramel will not be available. We hope it won’t be too long until the bergamots ripen to produce our mouth watering Saffron and Bergamot curd. 

When you visit us at the markets, you’ll notice a happy but tired farmer! But if you can’t make it to the markets, stock up on your favourite varieties!