In the centre of South Africa, lies the fertile and beautiful Vaalharts Valley formed millions of years ago by a giant glacier. Here, in the midst of the semi-dessert of the Northern Cape Province, lay the Vaalharts Irrigation project, which comprises 43,000 hectares, cradled between the Harts- and the Vaalrivers. Hartswater, the main centre of the Irrigation project, is home to O.S.A.
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The first trees were planted in 1995. We also planted an experimental grove of more than 60 different varieties, which helps us to select those varieties best suited to our unique conditions. To date a total of more than 200 000 trees were planted in the area, most of which are already producing excellent crops. Since Olives South Africa has the only olive processing plant in this area, almost all these olives are processed at our plant.
Frantoio and Coratina are the only oil cultivars that are in production and they have excellent yield both in crop and in oil. At the moment our oil consist primarily out of the cultivar Mission but that will change from next year on when the cultivars mentioned above comes into production.
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Below you’re looking at the artist’s rendition of our brand new front end with which will be home to our new offices and extended sales area, next to the main road, almost at the entrance of Hartswater – at the same premises where we have been since we started.
At first, mostly Mission, Kalamata, Manzanilla and Uovo di Picione trees were planted, but the last 4 years other varieties like Frantoio, Leccino, Coratina, FS 17, I 77 and Nocellara del Belice were introduced. Of the table varieties Uovo di Picione performs excellently, with high yields and fruit that are firm and full of rich olive tastes.
A new Pieralisi Oil Press was imported in January 2003 and a big factory was build to process not only the Oil but also the Table Olives. Special care is taken during all the production stages – from the loving care of the groves to the bottling of the final products. High standards of hygiene and cleanliness are maintained throughout all the production stages. All olives are handpicked and the Olives that we use for Oil is picked when half ripe. Olives are transported to the mill and pressed within 12 to 24 hours of harvesting.The unique tastes and aromas in our Olive Oil and Table Olives are due to the rich soils deposited by the glacier. We have very hot summers and mild winters, with less than 400mm of rain (mainly during the summer months) and a water table no more than 2 meters deep. An additional benefit is the fact that our olive trees are protected from pests and diseases by natural enemies and the isolation of the area limiting the use of pesticides. Until now it was not necessary to use chemical sprays on our trees.
O.S.A – Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Olive Oil and Table Olives in elegant bottles labelled and designed to suit the needs of your lifestyle.