What are polyphenols? Polyphenols are natural compounds found in certain plant foods, such as fruits, vegetables, tea, dark chocolate, and early harvest extra virgin olive oil.
Polyphenols provide several health benefits. They can act as antioxidants, meaning they can neutralize harmful free radicals that would otherwise damage your body’s cells and increase the risk of conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Polyphenols can also reduce inflammation, which is believed to be the root cause of many chronic illnesses. In fact, under European Union law, olive oils with high phenolic content (such as our own) can make the following claim: "Olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress. The claim may be used only for olive oil containing at least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives per 20 g of olive oil. The beneficial effect is obtained with a daily intake of 20 g of olive oil. (Commission Regulation (EU) 432/2012)."
Those same antioxidant properties also contribute to the stability of extra virgin olive oil. Controlling for other variables (such as filtration and exposure to light and heat), olive oil with a high phenolic content will typically have a longer shelf life.
Does harvesting and pressing olives early affect the phenolic content of the olive oil? In a word, yes. All high-polyphenol olive oil is made from early harvest olives. As olives ripen, their phenolic content decreases. As a general rule, the higher the polyphenol count, the earlier in the season the olives were harvested and pressed.
Can you taste the polyphenols in the olive oil? Yes, you can. Olive oils with higher phenolic content have a more bitter and “spicy” flavor. They have a little “kick” to them. And as you’ve probably read on our website, we believe that’s a very good thing. Our early-harvest olive oil has a distinct, robust flavor that distinguishes it from the more bland, ordinary olive oils on the market. In Greece, they call olive oil like ours “agourelaio,” and it is a sought-after quality.
Because there is a connection between an olive oil’s flavor and its polyphenol count, there are always going to be trade-offs involved. If an olive grower harvests too early in the season (September to early October in Greece), the olive oil will have a very high phenolic content, but the flavor will probably be too intense and too pungent to enjoy. That’s why the olive oil brands which advertise super high polyphenol counts (over 500 mg / kg) tend to focus on the health benefits and medicinal qualities of their products. At those levels, the flavor of their olive oil is just and too bitter to be used in the kitchen.
Our olives are harvested and pressed at the end of October, beginning of November each year. That timing gives our cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil the perfect flavor profile, with just the right amount of “kick” and the all of the added health benefits of a high phenolic content (410 mg / kg, laboratory certified). After all, we’re selling food, not medicine. Enjoy!
