Most common olive varieties

Even though there’s more than 250 olive varieties in our country, four of them are the most predominant when it comes to national and global scale: picual, cornicabra, arbequina and hojiblanca. Let’s make a review of these four.

Picual

Also known as marteña or nevadillo, it’s the most abundant variety in both Spain and the world. There’s almost a million production surface hectares in our country. To whom is not acquainted with hectares, this would be equivalent to approximately a million two hundred thousand soccer fields.

They’re concentrated on Jaén, Córdoba and Granada, but its farming has extended to other zones like Castilla-La Mancha. The name picual makes reference to the shape of the olive wich is similar to a beak (pico, in spanish).

Cornicabra

Second spanish variety regarding farming land. It’s found mainly in the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real and Madrid, but it’s also farmed in the provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz. Its name makes reference to the curved shape of the olive which resembles the horn(cuerno, in spanish) of a goat.

Its extra virgin olive oils are very aromatic, the apple one standing out. Olive leaf herbal notes are noticed in-mouth, with a slightly bitter taste.

Arbequina

Variety characteristic of Cataluña (Tarragona and Lérida) and Alto Aragón, but its farming has been extending across the country. Its name comes from Arbeca, a town on the province of Lérida.

It provides a ver fluid and sweet oil, in which almost no bitter or spicy tastes are noticed. It has a fruitty smell of olive, apple, banana and almond.

Hojiblanca

Variety characteristic of the provinces of Málaga, Córdoba, Granada and Sevilla. It’s name comes from the color of its leafs which have clear colored back. The particularity of this variety is that its used for both the extraction of oil and for table olives.

It tastes and smells like recently cut grass, artichoke and aromatic plants. It has a sweet taste at the beginning with a slightly bitter and spicy taste at the end.