The freshness in Olive Oil is indeed an important element for the preservation of its health benefits. Please note that the freshness benefit is relevant when looking in the Harvest “Year” of an Olive Oil. So, it is always better to buy Olive Oil from the latest Harvest Year and not from previous years (as you can usually find in supermarkets and low-quality brands). For this reason, we only sell Olive Oil that is harvested within the latest Harvest Year (in this harvest year starting from October 2019). However, within the same harvest year you can have harvests from October

2019 up to Feb/March 2020. In that case, if you want a product with higher Health benefits and intense Aroma, it is better to look at the “Early Harvests” (in this year’s harvest between October 2019 to November 2019).

Early Harvest olive oils require a significantly higher quantity of Olives to produce the same quantity of Oil that a later harvest would need (Dec-Jan-Febr olives are more mature and are able to provide more quantity of olive oil per olives used). For this reason the early harvest olive oils are usually more expensive, but they come with higher concentration on health benefits (polyphenols) and quality characteristics. In addition to the added health benefits, early harvest olive oils have a longer shelf life than ripe harvest oils because the antioxidant properties of the polyphenols slow the onset of rancidity. The Oct 2019 product is our Premium Early Harvest product enjoying very high-quality characteristics and has been bottled at a premium dark bottle to protect the olive from light and oxidation.

Yes, November Olive Oils are filtered. The filtering process helps olive oil to maintain stability and preserve their healthy qualities. Unfiltered olive oils include olive particles that will continue to ferment in the bottle and the sediment on the bottom of the bottle will accelerate the oxidation of the olive oil once the container has been opened.

November Olive Oil does NOT use vacuum machines for the collection of olives and there many reasons for that. Please note the November EVOO follows only eco-friendly, 100% organic and traditional growing and olive production practices. The use of vacuum machines kills the birds that spend the night in our olive trees. Other than our love for nature and those birds, there is another important reason that we want them safe in our Olive Groves…The higher the population of these birds the lower the population of Olive flies that attack the olive fruits every year. And since November is 100% Organic, without the use of pesticide it is important to have those birds as an ally against the olive fly attacks. Unlike November Olive Oil practices, it is true that plenty of large olive oil manufacturers use vacuum machines, both because they do not have an eco-friendly culture but also because they don’t need those birds to protect them from Olive flies, since they use pesticides in their production process.