Empeltre olives
The black olive of the Ebro valley — a dual-purpose Spanish classic from Aragon.
The Empeltre is the traditional olive of the Ebro valley in north-east Spain — Aragon, and into neighbouring regions — and of the Balearic Islands. It is a slender black olive, dual-purpose: cured, it is a sweet, mild black table olive; pressed, it gives a distinctive pale-gold, mild and slightly sweet oil with banana and almond notes that long defined Aragonese extra virgin.
- Origin
- Ebro valley, Aragon · Spain
- Type
- Table & oil
- Colour
- Black
- Flavour
- Mild, sweet, fruity
- Oil
- Pale gold, gentle
- Best for
- Black table olives, mild oil
The gentle black olive
Where many Spanish oils are robust, the Empeltre’s is famously soft and sweet — low bitterness, low pepper, with delicate ripe-fruit notes. As a table olive it is cured naturally black and mild, a staple of the Aragonese and Balearic table. It is one of the older Spanish cultivars and remains regionally beloved even as bolder varieties dominate the export market.
That gentleness has a cost: an Empeltre oil is lower in the bitter, peppery polyphenols than a Picual or Coratina, so it is delicious but less robust and shorter-lived. Enjoy it fresh and young, when its delicate fruit is at its best — it is not an oil to leave in the cupboard for two years.