Manzanillo: Australia's Favourite Table Olive

Manzanillo is primarily a table olive, the classic green Spanish-style olive most Australians picture when they think of olives. It is also pressed for oil, which makes it a dual-purpose variety. In Australia it is one of the most widely grown table olives, valued for its size, its flesh-to-stone ratio and how well it takes to curing. This page explains what dual-purpose means and where Manzanillo fits locally.

At a glance

• Origin: Spain (Seville region).
• Primary use: Table olive (green, Spanish style).
• Secondary use: Pressed for oil.
• Why it is popular: Large fruit, high flesh ratio, cures well.
• As oil: Mild and soft when pressed.
• Harvest in Australia: Autumn, roughly April to July.

Table olives and oil olives are not the same job

Not every olive variety is grown for the same purpose. Some are bred and picked for the press, others for the table, and a few do both. The differences come down to fruit size, flesh-to-stone ratio, oil content, skin toughness and flavour.

Table olives need large, firm fruit with plenty of flesh around the stone and a skin that survives curing. Curing removes the natural bitterness of a raw olive using brine, salt or lye, so the flesh has to hold together through that process. Flavour and texture on the plate matter most.

Oil olives are chosen differently. High oil content and the right flavour chemistry count for more than size. Many top oil varieties have small fruit that would make poor eating but press into excellent oil. Coratina and Picual are good examples of press-focused varieties.

Dual-purpose varieties like Manzanillo, Hojiblanca and Manzanillo’s grove companion Barnea sit in between. They can be sold either way, which gives growers flexibility across seasons and markets.

Why Manzanillo suits the table

Manzanillo comes from the Seville region of Spain and is one of the most planted table olives in the world. The fruit is rounded and generous, with a high proportion of flesh to stone. That size and texture is exactly what you want in a green olive on a plate or in a jar.

It also cures reliably. Picked green and cured in the Spanish style, it delivers the firm bite and clean, savoury flavour most people associate with a good green olive. Black-ripe curing is possible too, later in the season.

For those reasons Manzanillo became a mainstay of Australian table olive production. Growers here supply it fresh-cured through markets, delis and producers, and it is the variety many home picklers start with.

Manzanillo as an oil

Manzanillo can be pressed, and it yields a mild, soft oil. It is not a powerhouse like a robust variety, and its oil content is lower than dedicated oil olives, so it is rarely the first choice for a serious single-varietal oil. When it does appear as oil it is gentle and approachable, closer in spirit to a delicate variety like Arbequina.

More often, Manzanillo fruit that is not needed for the table gets pressed or blended rather than wasted. This is one practical reason producers grow dual-purpose varieties: the crop has more than one home. Our piece on single varietal versus blend olive oil explains how varieties combine on Australian labels.

Buying and using Manzanillo

If you are buying Manzanillo as a table olive, look for firm, unblemished fruit and a curing style you like. If you are curing your own, pick during the autumn harvest, roughly April to July, and follow a tested brine or lye method carefully, since raw olives are inedible.

If you find a Manzanillo oil, treat it as a soft, everyday extra virgin. It suits gentle dishes and general cooking. Extra virgin oil is fine for most home cooking, as covered in cooking with olive oil. Whatever the label claims, genuine extra virgin has free fatty acidity at or below 0.8 percent, with sensory and chemical checks assessed by bodies such as the Australian Olive Association. For what the grade terms mean, see olive oil grades.

To see how Manzanillo sits alongside the oil-focused varieties, browse the full olive varieties guide, and check the health benefits of olive oil page for why fresh extra virgin is worth a regular place in the kitchen.