Is early harvest olive oil good for you?

The olive harvest can take place at varying times, depending on if the olive trees are in the northern or southern hemisphere, the weather conditions throughout the year, even the socioeconomic conditions play their part (see the recent olive oil thefts). Traditionally the southern hemisphere’s harvest runs from April through to July, and the northern hemisphere harvest runs from October through to January.

Olives on the tree during the early harvest months will be especially bright and vibrant, but small. If the olives are small then they will yield a smaller volume of olive oil when they are crushed into a paste in the first step of olive oil production. Then for what reason would an olive oil producer choose to create an early harvest oil? It may seem counterintuitive for them to intentionally create less olive oil. It is worth it for the producers though, as they can charge more for an early harvest olive oil—and rightly so as the oil will likely be higher quality and contain more nutrition than an olive oil made later in the season.

Virgin olive oil ranked 1st for its nutritional quality score among a group of 32 edible oils in a study published online in April 2023. One of the reasons for its nutritional properties is the fact that virgin olive oil has a higher concentration of healthy ‘antioxidant acting’ polyphenols. There are various studies on the benefits of consuming a diet high in polyphenols, this meta-analysis of 26 studies shows that extra virgin olive oil with higher polyphenols significantly improved markers in the blood that may put you at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease when compared to the low polyphenol counterpart.

So, although the producers will be left with a smaller yield, these bright green olives will deliver a much higher quantity of polyphenols. Polyphenols are usually expressed as mg/Kg - this simply means how many milligrams of polyphenols are found in each kilogram of olive oil. But you won’t see this measurement on every bottle of olive oil in the supermarkets. It’s quite rare in fact, and the reason is most producers aren’t willing to accept a smaller yield on their olive harvest, and instead attempt to sell a higher quantity of oil. As the reality is the general population does not understand the benefits of high polyphenol olive oil, and so would not see the value in paying more for an early harvest oil.

Only the very best extra virgin olive oil producers who are confident in their practices send their oil away to be tested for its polyphenol content and then go as far to publish the data online. We’ve tried our best to gather the very best offerings from these producers (and still deliver to the UK) into one place. You’ll find every single oil on this website has its polyphenol content prominently displayed so you can make an informed decision on which one to buy. This study recommends a new definition of the marketing term ‘high-phenolic olive oil’, this would reserve its use to oils that have a polyphenol content of 500 mg/Kg or more. The reason they recommend this is that polyphenol content in oils degrades over time and becomes lower as the oil ages (this is why it’s important to buy olive oil as close to the harvest date as possible, store it properly and use it regularly). The study found an average loss of 46% of the polyphenols in olive oil over the period of 12 months of usual storage, so the reason they recommend an oil with >500 mg/Kg polyphenol content is to factor in this loss, and even after a year the oil will likely still contain >250 mg/Kg. The 250 mg/Kg limit is relevant as this is the current health claim limit that a bottle of oil needs to contain to be classed and marketed as a high-phenolic or high polyphenol olive oil.

So in conclusion, yes, early harvest olive oil is good for you, and is worth a slightly higher price tag. But be sure to check the polyphenol content of the oil first—with our recommendation being >500 mg/Kg.