 Olive oil can vary in colour from dark green to golden yellow and even brown. Two important factors determine the colour of fresh olive oil: the variety of olive and the moment of harvesting. Some Spanish varieties such as Verdell, Picual, Picudo, Argudell and Cornicabra, as well as the Italian Frantoia, are by nature greener than Empeltre, Arbequina or Hojiblanca. But the moment of harvesting can strongly reinforce that. Olives are always greenest when they are young, of course, than get darker as they ripen. The oil from early harvested olives tastes fruity and aromatic. Late-harvested olives produce a sweeter, more syrupy oil. But with time even green oil will turn yellow and brown. The natural colouring (chlorophyll) disappears under the influence of light and air.
A kilo of dark ripe olives sometimes provides half again as much oil as a kilo of young green olives, and that is considerably more advantageous for the farmer. That explains the relative scarcity of aromatic, fruity oil from young olives.
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