Portuguese olive oil

Climate and olive oil production in Portugal

Olive oil is obtained by means of extracting the oil content from the fruits of the olive plant. The process of olive oil extraction and harvesting are very tedious and time consuming processes which require extra care. The presence of high amounts of polyphenols and monounsaturated fats like oleic acid are extremely beneficial to human beings as they protect against rising cholesterol, coronary heart diseases and blood pressure. Also at times it functions as a laxative. It is also used as an ingredient in cooking, cosmetics, soaps, as fuel for lighting oil lamps and for multifarious other purposes. In fact, olive oil is the most significant among the various modes of vegetable oils that are available in the market. d to stall dam construction and a park was built in order to preserve the exquisite works of art.

The two main popular crops of cultivation in Portugal are olives and vines. Apart from the various mechanized resources and machineries which are used in hastening cultivation of olive groves, equally important are the geographical factors like the influence of climate and weather conditions. In Portugal the two dominant climatic modes are the oceanic and Mediterranean type climates. The Mediterranean type climate is the one which is required fro the cultivation and production of olive oil. Being a very sensitive crop, olive oil requires finest climatic conditions for its growth and harvesting. In fact for harvesting and final extraction of the oil during pressing, climatic factors are very significant for the extraction of refined quality oil. In hot weather conditions the olives are pressed within twenty four hours while in cold weather, seventy two hours is the maximum allotted time. This time gap is essential as it ensures the quality of olive oil extracted and the greater the difference in time between harvesting and pressing, the more inferior would be the quality of oil. So climatic factors are very significant for olive oil cultivation.