World
The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition concluded its annual rollout of award-winning brands today on the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils.
Nearly 1,100 entries from 23 countries participated in the Northern Hemisphere division of the world’s largest olive oil quality contest. Southern Hemisphere brands will compete later this year.
To receive this kind of recognition we feel that we are doing something good for our customers, our employees, our community and all the generations who have dedicated their lives to this family business.- Tommaso Asaro, Oleificio Asaro dal 1916
There were 531 Gold Awards and 216 Silver Awards bestowed to producers who overcame a year marked by challenges to craft exceptional products.
Award-winning producers cited heatwaves, droughts, labor shortages and inflation as hurdles in a particularly tough season.
See Also:2023 NYIOOC CoverageProducers from Italy won 174 awards, followed by their counterparts in Spain (106), Croatia (105), Greece (90), the United States (80) and Turkey (74). There were also triumphs from lesser-known olive oil-producing countries, including China, Lebanon, Egypt and Algeria.
“Olives are our passion. To receive this kind of recognition, we feel that we are doing something good for our customers, our employees, our community and all the generations who have dedicated their lives to this family business,” said Tommaso Asaro, the owner of Oleificio Asaro dal 1916.
The Sicilian producer, which recently partnered with Starbucks for its olive oil-infused line of coffee beverages, earned six awards at the World Competition. Asaro said the 2022 harvest had been one of the most challenging in Sicily.
“From the outset, temperature extremes reduced flowering, and a drier-than-usual summer contributed to significant yield reductions,” he added.
Producers in Spain also overcame a hot and dry summer to craft some of the world’s best extra virgin olive oils.
From massive cooperatives to family farms, winning in New York proved a welcome relief after a challenging season. The 1,500 farmers behind the Olivarera de Lucena cooperative in Andalusia were no exception.
“We are proud of having produced one of the best oils,” said Antonio Pozo Nevado, the cooperative’s agronomist. “This is a great recognition of the effort and dedication used in the selection and production of this extra virgin olive oil.”
“Winning at the NYIOOC is the most important recognition for us,” added Eddy Plasquy, owner of the family company Del Cetino. “Especially for small producers, it is a unique platform to demonstrate that serious work pays off. And we are a very small and also a very proud producer.”
Outside of the world’s most prominent olive oil-producing countries, resourceful olive farmers from farther afield demonstrated that no single region has a monopoly on quality.
“A typhoon just before the harvest caused damage to about 900 trees,” Kunisaki QLiVE Garden chief executive Masahiro Ohno said. “Harvesting and restoration work overlapped and was very difficult, but with the cooperation of the local community, we were able to complete the harvest safely.”
Despite the typhoon, Ohno was awarded for a medium-intensity blend. “It’s our first time participating at the NYIOOC,” he said. “We are very honored to receive the Silver Award in the world’s largest olive oil competition.”
Ohno and his team were not the only winners to overcome a literal storm en route to success. On the opposite side of the world, Georgia’s largest olive oil producer turned olives from the hurricane-threatened harvest into award-winning oil.
“Hurricane Ian was making landfall just as we were preparing to begin harvest,” said Fresh Press Farms agricultural and innovation director Ciriaco Chavez. “We are less than 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the Gulf of Mexico, so there was the threat that the hurricane’s path could impact our harvest.”
However, the producer persevered and earned a Silver Award for its medium blend. “As new producers helping to pioneer olive growing in Georgia, we wanted to show that our unique Georgian extra virgin olive oils meet or exceed the quality of oil producers in California or other parts of the world,” Chavez said.
While many parts of the olive oil world faced an unprecedentedly challenging harvest, producers in Turkey celebrated a watershed moment by yielding a record-shattering 380,000 tons of olive oil in the 2022/23 crop year and winning a remarkable number of NYIOOC awards.
While many familiar faces earned repeat awards, the bumper harvest allowed many new producers to showcase their hard work and innovative brands.
“As a company that sources from olive trees grown by women in Turkey, this is a tremendous opportunity to showcase the unique flavor and quality of our olive oil and promote gender equality in the agricultural sector,” Rengin Suar agent Sebnem Sener said about the company’s Silver Award.
“Recognition in the NYIOOC opens the door to a new continent, and we are very excited to meet the aficionados across the Atlantic,” added Zeynep Belger, founder of award-winning Zayto.
This is a breaking news article. Check back for updates.
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