Malaga's extra virgin olive oil from the oldest trees

Although there may be many more, there is only one officially dated thousand-year-old olive tree in Malaga. It is the one located in the Arroyo Carnicero in Casabermeja. In 2013 it received an award for the best monumental olive tree from AOVE (Aceite de Olivo Virgen Extra).

Despite being more than ten centuries old, its fruit is still optimal for the production of extra virgin olive oil. This is well known in the Molino del Hortelano mill in Casabermeja, which for almost a decade now has been meticulously extracting a very exclusive 'liquid gold' with its olives and those of six other specimens that are assumed to be at least centenarians.

Under the name 'Milenario', like the best essences, it is packaged in small bottles. This exclusive extra virgin olive oil is packaged in quarter-litre bottles of black glass and presented in an elegant box to protect it from light.

Each bottle is priced at 25 euros making it not only one of the most exclusive extra virgin olive oils in the country, but also one of the most expensive.

Only 200 bottles are produced each season and some people even try to buy the entire stock. But in this oil mill in Casabermeja they prefer that it is distributed among more buyers. "We have received many offers from Saudi Arabia, but we turn them down," explains the owner of this family business.

The species of olive is difficult to determine today. According to the University of Cordoba in the case of the olive tree in Arroyo Carnicero, which it officially dated as millenary, it is an olive tree of an uncatalogued paleo variety, which in turn, was grafted in its day on to a wild olive tree. For his part, Juan Cabello affirms that, due to its characteristics, it could be identified as a "picudo".

The Cabello Montiel family in Casabermeja recently launched 'Olivar de los Dólmenes', a hojiblanca that pays tribute to the enclaves that today are declared World Heritage Sites.

The trade name 'Milenario' has also been used for years by the San Isidro de Periana cooperative for a very different line of extra virgin olive oils. However, the president of this Axarquía company, Manuel Benítez, clarifies that, none of the olive trees from which this 'liquid gold' comes from are officially dated as millenarian.

However "on average, the trees from which this extra virgin olive oil is extracted would be centenarians", says Benítez. In total, some 3,000 litres have been extracted this season and are sold in three different formats: half litre bottles and cans of one and two-and-a-half litres.