Despite the “high quality” of this product, it is still “very unknown” even among Madrid residents
MADRID, 30 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The quality of ‘Aceite de Madrid’ and the potential of its internal market, with the capital of Spain and its large metropolitan area, mark the opportunities with which the sector faces in the Community the recent declaration of protected designation of origin by the European Union in the category of Appeal of Protected Origin (AOP).
With more than 25,000 hectares of olive groves, 1% of the whole of Spain, the ‘Aceite de Madrid’ has managed to make a name for itself linked to quality compared to other producing areas with larger olive groves and production, a work of “many years”. of olive growers and millers that Brussels has now recognized with this denomination.
This was highlighted by Esther Alonso, from the Denomination ‘Aceite de Madrid’, who explained that these are farms with a smaller production in which “the process is very pampered”, with early extraction oils whose olives “enter little little by little to the mill”.
Despite the “high quality” of this oil, Alonso acknowledges in statements to Europa Press that it is a “very unknown” product even in Madrid and has placed the challenge in “promotion, dissemination and training”, now with the endorsement of the European Union.
With varieties such as Cornicabra, Castilian and Manzanilla Cacereña -compared to the Picual typical of the province of Jaén or the Arbequina more characteristic of Catalonia-, the geographical and climatic conditions of the Community of Madrid, with dry land and periodic frosts in winter, provide organoleptic characteristics with very high polyphenols and where pigments are also important.
From the agrarian organizations, Mónica Álvaro Sánchez, from UPA Madrid, has admitted the “impulse” that the new denomination can suppose for the Madrid olive grove, which has “a different idiosyncrasy” from other olive-growing areas of Spain.
In any case, he has stressed that the benefits that the new guarantee seal can bring “are accompanied by advertising and promotion”, in line with which he has given as an example the progress made with the Wines of Madrid, today “on the rise”. In addition, he has pointed out that the prestige and diffusion that Spanish oil has abroad can also serve as an umbrella to help Madrid’s oil to go abroad.
The Community of Madrid has almost 25,000 hectares of olive groves worked by 4,500 farmers, spread over almost a hundred municipalities, although the main areas are concentrated in the regions of La Campiña, Las Vegas and Suroccidental.
The average annual production is between 4 and 6.5 million kilos, with an amount of certified oil that UPA Madrid has estimated for this year between 120,000 and 130,000 liters, a smaller amount than in other years, as he explained. Mónica Álvaro, due to the impact of the drought and other phenomena that drag on over time, such as the damage caused to the olive grove by the storm ‘Filomena’.
In the olive-growing areas of Madrid, the majority varieties are cultivated –cornicabra and manzanilla– and other less common ones –verdeja, carrasqueña, picual and gordal–. All of them are treated in 18 oil mills, seven of which manufacture only organic oil.
The Aceite de Madrid already had the Guarantee Mark, a differentiated regional quality figure that recognizes extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) obtained by mechanical procedures to achieve a product with a maximum acidity of 0.8 degrees of oleic acid.
Likewise, it is characterized by a unique flavor where an artisan elaboration is appreciated that is combined with respect for the natural environment.
