LOVE Sanuki's report

The 76th Olive Oil

One of the major projects of Yoshimoto, "A project to live in your town", to make Japan feel good from the area. Entertainer "Kaji Tsuyoshi" who lives in Kagawa reports on local products.

Shodoshima in Kagawa Prefecture is the birthplace of olive cultivation in Japan. It all started in 1907 (Meiji 40) when the Kagawa Prefectural Agricultural Experiment Station (at that time) planted olive saplings.Today, olive farms are spreading throughout the prefecture.
Kaji visited Ao no Dia Co., Ltd., an olive oil manufacturer in Tadotsu Town, Kagawa Prefecture.

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  Conditions for olive cultivation: sunlight, ventilation, and drainage

  "Blue Diamond" is located in a scenic olive farm overlooking the Seto Inland Sea.
  Mr. Masaru Hosokawa, president of Ao-no-Dia, told us, “This place is sunny, well-ventilated, and well-drained, making it ideal for olive cultivation.”

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  Ventilation is especially important because olives are pollinated by wind-borne pollen.Among the various varieties, the Mission variety is weak in self-pollination, so in addition to Mission, we plant Lucca, Nevadillo, He Blanco, and Picual varieties.

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  Switch from Delaware cultivation to olive cultivation

  Delaware, originally called the "red diamond," was thriving in this area.However, with the passage of time, consumer preferences changed to large grapes, and fewer people cultivated Delaware, leading to desolate land. Mr. Hosokawa, local farmers, and an agricultural committee set up a plan to transform the barren land into an olive farm.Currently, about 50 farmers are cultivating olives together with "Ao no Diamond".
  Mr. Kaji was also impressed, saying, “There was such a history of olive cultivation in Tadotsu.”

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  Assessing the olive harvest

  There are eight stages of ripeness of olives, from 0 degrees green to 7 degrees black.
  Olive oil is sensory evaluated based on the standards of "pungency", "bitterness" and "fragrance" worldwide, but green fruits with a young maturity tend to be evaluated higher because they have more pungency and bitterness.For this reason, "Ao no Dia" harvests the first to fifth degree fruit before it ripens to black.Green fruits with a maturity level of 1 have less oil content, so the amount of oil extracted is less, but we harvest them in a well-balanced manner while valuing taste rather than quantity.

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  Experience harvesting olives

  Mr. Kaji experienced harvesting olives.
  You can easily pick 4 or 5 olives by holding them gently and pulling them lightly.
  "If you don't take good care of the fruit, it will go bad," says Hosokawa.
  Trees bear countless fruits.It seems that olives in high places are harvested by climbing the steps.
  "It's hard to pick all these by hand," said Mr. Kaji, realizing the hardships of harvesting.

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  Kagawa prefecture's original olive oil quality labeling

  Kagawa Prefecture has its own quality standards for olive oil.
  There are "Standard", which conforms to the standards of extra virgin olive oil established by the International Olive Council (IOC), and "Premium", which is even higher quality.

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  Quality evaluation must meet both the criteria of chemical inspection, which indicates the freshness of the oil, and sensory evaluation, which evaluates the deliciousness.
  Ao-no-Dia's olive oil passes all standards year after year to maintain premium quality.
  
  Details of Kagawa Prefecture olive oil quality labeling

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  Olive oil manufacturing process

  The harvest of olives will begin in early October, and the harvested fruits will be delivered to “Ao-no-Diaia” from farmers every day. It seems that there are 10 to 10 boxes of 100 kg of fruit in a container when there are many.
  The fruits that arrive are quickly processed into olive oil at the processing plant.High-quality olive oil is produced by processing olives while they are still fresh.

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  At the processing plant, the fruit is first lightly washed with water using a machine called a hopper to remove dust.
  Next, the fruit is finely chopped with a machine called a “crusher”.
  Next, it is slowly stirred with a stirrer called a "malaxer" to make the small olive oil particles stick together and become larger.This makes it easier to extract the olive oil.

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  Finally, the solid content, water, and olive oil are separated by high-speed rotation in a centrifuge called a "decanter."Freshly extracted olive oil came out of a thin tube extending from the decanter.

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  "It's a beautiful color," said Kaji.Freshly extracted olive oil is bright green and slightly cloudy.
  This olive oil is filtered through a filter to remove impurities and stored at the correct temperature in storage tanks.We fill bottles from storage tanks and ship according to orders.
  After extracting the olive oil, the fruits are dried and used as feed for Kagawa Prefecture's specialty olive beef.
  Mr. Kaji was impressed, saying, "Olives are circulating all the way to the end."

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  Exquisite olive oil that elevates cooking

  Mr. Hosokawa said, “Please try the blue diamond olive oil,” and Mr. Kaji immediately tried it.
  First of all, it's simple to bread.The key is to apply plenty.

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  "It's crazy. The aroma and umami of the olive oil is just as good as the bread."
  The spicy yet refreshing flavor spreads in your mouth.

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  Next, we sampled Hosokawa's recommended hot lettuce with olive oil.
  Just heat the lettuce in the microwave and drizzle with olive oil.Olive oil blends well with slightly softened lettuce.
  Kaji smiles at the taste.

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  “The flavors of both the lettuce and the olive oil really stand out,” says Kaji.
  “Olive oil is very mellow, and it brings out the flavor of other ingredients,” said Hosokawa with a smile.

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  Mr. Kaji observed the process from harvesting olives to producing olive oil.
  Cultivation on land suitable for olive cultivation.
  Farmers carefully harvest them one by one.
  And the harvested olives are processed while they are fresh.
  Mr. Kaji was moved by the fact that delicious olive oil was born from the blessings of nature and everyone's thoughts.

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Past reports

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  Spring 2011

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  The 58th parsley

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  The 31st rare sugar

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  55th Biwa