The variety of Cornicabra olive produces olives with high yield of oil. It is a tree with good productive characteristics, adapted to dry and limestone soils.
The origin of the variety of Cornicabra olives, is located in the Toledo town of Mora de Toledo. Cornicabra, is the second olive variety by extension of cultivation (in Spain), although at a considerable distance from Picual. They are calculated around 270,000 hectares cultivated in Spanish territory. The cultivation of the Cornicabra variety is mainly located in Toledo. But there are also important extensions in Badajoz, Cáceres, Ciudad Real and Madrid.
The designation of origin“Montes de Toledo“is the hallmark of Extra Virgin Olive Oil extracted from olives of the variety Cornicabra.
Curiosities: The name Cornicabra is indicative of the”goat horn“shape of this olive variety.
Synonyms or names that the Cornicabra olive variety receives
Cultivated for centuries, the Cornicabra olive variety is known by a significant number of names according to its geographical location.
In Villarejo the Cornicabra olive tree is known as Cabrilla.
Almonacid, Mascaraque and Mora de Toledo refer to this variety as Common.
The towns of Almodóvar del Campo, Calzada de Calatrava, Cañaveral and Herrera del Duque call Cornezuelo olives.
The Cornezuelo olives are known, because they are a good-tasting table olives, the green olives are crushed to remove the bitterness.
Once the olives are sweetened with water, they are seasoned with garlic, fennel, thyme and salt.
In the term of Requena, the Cornicabra tree is called Cornita.
The municipality of Cebreros (Ávila), calls this variety Oil Stream, in reference to the high fatty yield of Cornicabra olives.
Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo), knows Cornicabra as olive “ del Piquillo ”.
For the people of Madridejos (Toledo), the synonym of Cornicabra is”del Terreno“.
The farmers of Belmonte (Cuenca) call the olive variety Cornicabra, Longar.
In Jaraíz de la Vera (Cáceres) the Cornicabra variety is called Longuera.
Osnal is the name by which the Cornicabra olive variety is known in Arenas de San Pedro (Ávila), Talavera, Torrijos and other neighboring towns.
Cornicabra also receives other names such as Cornal, Cornatillo, Corneja, Cornetilla, Cornetillo, Cornicabra Enough, Black Cornicabra, Corniche, Small Corniche, Corval, Horn, olive oil, Ornal.
Characteristics of the Cornicabra Olive tree
Cornicabra is a variety of rustic olive trees, very adapted to the difficult conditions of drought, limestone terrain and winter cold.
Productivity: Cornicabra is a variety of high productivity and late production entry.
Regularity of bearing: It is considered a variety of olive trees very vecera or production not constant Its high expiration is partly due to the harvest being delayed in excess to facilitate its collection.
Flowering: the Cornicabra olive tree is late flowering and usually has enough curd in self-pollination. However, fruit set can be improved if it is planted with other varieties of late flowering olive trees.
Vigor and bearing of the tree: Cornicabra plant has medium vigor and erect bearing.
Plantation framework: Olive plantations of this variety have traditionally been carried out in wide frames, with distances of more than 10 meters.
Leaf: the leaf of the variety of Cornicabra olive is symmetric, of medium size and shape elliptical-lanceolate.
Diseases: The Cornicabra olive tree has low resistance at Verticillium, very low resistance to Repilo and tuberculosis. It presents high resistance to the drought, limestone terrain and is an olive tree of very high cold resistance.
The fly of the olive tree, prefers the olive of the Cornicabra olives against varieties such as Picual or Manzanilla Cacereña.
Multiplication: Like other olive varieties, Cornicabra has traditionally been multiplied by stake.
Currently, olive nurseries sell seedlings produced using nebulization techniques.
Cornicabra olives, morphological characteristics
Maturation: the variety of olive Cornicabra is ripening late.
Size: Cornicabra olive tree produces fruits of medium size with an approximate weight of 3 grams.
Shape: Cornicabra olives are asymmetric, elongated and with horn shape. This olive variety is well known for its long and pointed shape.
Skin color: The Cornicabra olive is ripe when it reaches the vinous red color.
Pulp: Cornicabra has a pulp/bone ratio high.
Peduncle: The peduncle of the Manzanilla Cacereña olive is very long.
Yield: Cornicabra olives have a high-very high yield of oil, which can exceed 19%.
Uses: The Cornicabra olive variety is used for table olives and oil production. At table it is appreciated for its pulp quality and good relationship with bone size, being known by Cornezuelo olive. The Extra Virgin Cornicabra oil is recognized for its quality and is protected by the DOP Montes de Toledo.
Taste: Cornicabra produces an Extra Virgin Oil of high stability and excellent organoleptic characteristics. With a pleasant aroma, Cornicabra stands out in the mouth for a level of bitterness and spicy means. Early collection oils are more spicy and late collection oils are sweeter.
Properties: Cornicabra oil, has a significant percentage of oleic acid (77% ) and its composition of Antioxidants and polyphenols, it has a High stability.
Cornicabra olives harvest
The Cornicabra olive groves are harvested with more effort than other varieties. If the olive is healthy, it has a very high resistance to detachment. Aspect that delays the collection and that can be positive to stagger the collection in large farms. Only harvest olives from the tree and have a long harvest period.
A negative aspect of the collection mechanized with combs is the increase of wounds and later tuberculosis. It is not advisable to harvest with combs on rainy days.
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