Homeleigh Grove is a signatory to the Australian Olive Industry Code of Practice for Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This Code covers the whole spectrum of the oils life, from the planting and health of the grove to harvesting, transport, pressing, testing, storage, bottling, distribution and traceability of every drop. We are also compliant with the national Australian Standard for Olive Oil AS5264-2011.
All our oils are independently tested by qualified laboratories and our products are entered in several national shows annually to underpin our continuing commitment to quality improvement and product development.
Olive oil is a fresh fruit juice and to be “Extra Virgin” in quality freshly picked olives need to be quickly pressed naturally for oil without heat or any chemical process. It then needs to be stored properly and distributed while it is still ‘young’. To ensure our product is in the best condition possible:
- We get the freshly harvested olives to the mill within 24 hours
- A few weeks after harvest we ‘rack off’ the oil rather than filter
- We organise the appropriate chemical and taste tests to ensure the oil is “Extra Virgin” and compliant with the Code of Practice for the Australian industry and with the Australian Standard AS5264-2011
- The oil is stored in bulk in air conditioned comfort at the ideal storage temperature (between 15 and 20 deg C)
- The oil stays in store until it is needed and then we bottle to demand
- Our infused oils use only the finest commercially produced essential oils to create wonderful flavours – we never use garden-fresh flavours as these can lead to less than perfect results.
- Our lable carries the year of harvest so the customer can know when it was harvested – the fresher the oil the better.
- Every bottle of Extra Virgin Oil carries the symbol for the Code of Practice and AS5264-2011 compliance.
To offset the energy consumption involved in keeping our oils at the appropriate temperature, we have installed a large solar power generation system