Olea europaea Aglandau - Olive Tree

The Aglandau Olive is an ancient variety native to the Alpes de Haute Provence. It produces oval-shaped olives, firm and juicy, with a thick skin, to be used as green or black table olives. They are green in early autumn, turning reddish pink and dark purple when ripe. It is rich in oil and has good yields. The Aglandau Olive is self-fertile. It is hardy and relatively resistant to cold and wind, making it suitable for slightly colder regions. Harvest takes place in October for green olives and in November and December for black olives and oil.

The expansion of the olive tree is linked to the establishment of the Mediterranean climate, which is the primary constraint for its cultivation. The domestication of the olive tree is believed to have occurred six millennia ago. Olive trees can live for a very long time. The oldest olive tree in the world is now 3000 years old. The Aglandau Olive originates from the Alpes de Haute Provence. Abbot Couture first described this variety in 1786, where he called it the Aix Plant. Its first registration with the COV dates back to 1986.

The olive tree is a very branched tree with a knotty trunk, hard and dense wood, and cracked brown bark. Its semi-erect, ball-shaped habit makes it particularly suitable for container cultivation. The leaves are elongated ovals, carried by short, reasonably hard, entire, curled edges, with a shiny dark green upper surface and a light green silver underside with a prominent midrib. The foliage is evergreen, always green, but that does not mean its leaves are immortal: they are constantly renewed. The small white flowers are grouped in small clusters of 10 to 20, growing in the axil of the leaves in April-May, on the previous year's wood. The Aglandau Olive is self-fertile, although the presence of a pollinator is recommended: Picholine and Cailletier are the most suitable. The olives produced are oval-shaped, firm and juicy, to be used as green or black table olives. They are green in early autumn, turning reddish pink and dark purple when ripe. It is rich in oil and has good yields.

Green olives are not consumed straight from the tree. They must first be prepared to remove any bitterness. There are many methods for preserving these green table olives. They all follow the same principle in 3 steps:

1) Removing bitterness, either with a caustic soda bath for a quick solution or with a traditional and slower ash lye.

2) Rinsing.

3) Brining, with or without fermentation.

For black olives, removing bitterness is not necessary.

Table olives can be consumed once prepared. They can also be used to produce olive oil.