Our Test Results Explained
Every bottle of Merkado carries a technical sheet with four figures on it. Here is what each one actually measures, why we pay an accredited laboratory in Beja to check them, and how to use them when you are choosing between our three harvests.
TEST RESULTS FOR
The Farmer’s Early Harvest
Our Early Harvest was the best boosting a 0.2% acidity level, ebe the lady at the laboratory was impressed!
TEST RESULTS FOR MID HARVEST
The Mid Harvest
The Mid Harvest rated well on acidity too at 0.28 well within the EVOO threshold of 0.2-0.8% and a slightly lower peroxide value.
TEST RESULTS FOR LATE HARVEST
The Late Lazy Picker Harvest
Slightly higher in acidity but with a fruity median of 4.2 which gives it it’s mellow flavour.
The Four Numbers on Our Testing Sheet, Explained
Most olive oil reaches a shelf accompanied by a best-before date and a country of origin. That is the whole disclosure. The oil might be six hours old or two years old; it might have been pressed from fruit that was perfect or fruit that sat in a sack for a week in the sun. You cannot tell from the bottle, and by design you are not meant to be able to tell.
We think that is a poor way to sell something people put on their food, so we do the opposite. Our figures come from ACOS — the Associação de Agricultores do Sul, an accredited laboratory in Beja — tested against Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2105 and the International Olive Council methods. Every value below is theirs, not ours.
Four numbers, four different questions about the oil. Read together, they tell you almost everything about how the harvest was handled.