Weather of Arabia - At this time every year, farmers and owners of olive farms are waiting for the first "winter" or the so-called "olive winter" so that they can pick olives and taste the fruits of their lands, so what is the reason for waiting for rain before harvesting? And when will the "olive winter" be this year?
On the "olive winter" for this year, the weather forecast staff at the "Arab Weather Center" indicated that the Kingdom of Jordan will be affected gradually, starting from Thursday evening (October 20) in a state of atmospheric instability, as the opportunity increases gradually in the afternoon and evening hours, God willing, for showers of rain. Thunderstorms over different and random parts of the south of the Kingdom , it may be heavy locally or in some narrow geographical ranges.
As for the middle of the night, the Kingdom is affected by the state of atmospheric instability, and thunder showers of rain are expected, God willing, in random areas of the Kingdom extending to some neighborhoods of the capital Amman , and some of these showers are heavy in some neighborhoods and narrow geographical areas, and the rains are characterized by irregularity. geographical.
The Kingdom will continue to be affected by the unstable weather conditions on Friday, so the opportunity remains for local thunderstorms to rain randomly in the Kingdom, especially the southern and eastern regions.
In each olive harvest season, farmers wait for rain because it washes trees and fruits from dust, due to the presence of some people suffering from “asthma” or respiratory allergies, and this waiting contributes to the full ripening of the olive fruits and an increase in the proportion of oil in them.
It is common knowledge among farmers, especially the old ones, that rain for the first time on olive trees gives the oil after its pressing a less bitter taste, in addition to the difference in its color and the amount of oil confined inside the fruit. But how accurate is this information?
Eng. Ibrahim Al-Amad, Head of the Olive Research Department at the National Center for Agricultural Research, explained to “Al-Ghad” the reality of what is being “circulated” about the impact of rainfall for the first time on olive trees and the quality, quality and taste of olive oil, and pointed out the negatives and positives of this wait. which is next:
Disadvantages of precipitation before harvest:
The mayor said that rainfall does not affect the olives in a positive way, and that the rainfall makes it difficult for the mechanisms of pressing the olives by extracting them from the fruit. He stressed that if quantities of rain fall more than a week before the harvest period, it increases the amount of water inside the fruit and does not increase the amount of oil in it, and thus leads to the difficulty of extracting oil from the fruit paste inside the press due to the formation of the so-called “colloidal solution.” .
Pros of waiting for rain before harvesting:
Al-Amad added that “there is currently a delay in the rainfall in Jordan due to the conditions of climate change, as the olive fruits reach the stage of full maturity (the black color) before the rains fall.” The mayors advised farmers, in order to obtain better quality oil, to harvest when 60-70% of the fruits are purple.
Rainfall by more than (20 mm), and at least a week before the fruits are harvested, reduces some of the sensory characteristics of olive oil, such as “salt” and bitterness resulting from the presence of antioxidants or what is known as “polyphenol” compounds inside the fruit. As the rainfall reduces its concentration in the tissues of the fruit, as it is one of the substances that dissolve in water.
Al-Mayd noted that if the farmer wants to increase the amount of oil inside the olive fruits, we recommend supplementary irrigation for rainfed crops during the summer months.
Whether you support or oppose the idea of picking olives after the first winter, the olive harvest season remains one of the distinguishing features of the autumn season, when adults and children go out energetically and energetically to pick olive fruits one by one, to taste the taste of the fruits that their lands have produced, and praise God Almighty for his grace and bounty. .
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