Peruvian olive oils win prizes in Paris

Peruvian products continue to be recognized in the world. This time it was the turn of extra virgin olive oils, produced by the companies "Vallesur" and "El Olivar", which were honored with the Special Jury Award at the Olio Nuovo Days Southern Hemisphere competition, held in June at the Le Cordon Bleu institute in Paris.

This event, which is organized by the French Culture Olive association, aims to promote olive oil produced in the southern hemisphere, as well as encouraging improvements in quality.

The award-winning Peruvian oils were produced in Tacna and obtained from the Peruvian Sevillana or Criolla variety, which is used for the production of table olives and olive oil (multipurpose).

Eight Peruvian extra virgin olive oils produced in Ica, Arequipa and Tacna participated in the competition for the first time. Oils produced in Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil and Uruguay also participated. A total of eight international oils were awarded prizes, including the two Peruvian ones.

Peruvian participation was possible thanks to the work of the Commercial Office of Peru in Paris (OCEX Paris) and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur).

Prelude to the next event

The recognition received by both brands is the prelude to the 6th Edition of the Sol d'Oro Southern Hemisphere Peru 2019 competition, considered one of the five most important olive oil competitions in the world.

The Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism (PROMPERÚ), the Peruvian Pro Olivo association and Verona Fiere (Italy) will be in charge of organizing this event, which will take place in September of this year, in the cities of Tacna and Lima.

A key feature of this competition is that it is held on a rotating basis in olive oil producing countries in the southern hemisphere. The jury is in addition made up of renowned olive oil tasters from Italy, Spain and the participating regions. The competition invited Lourdes Gonzalez as a guest on the jury in 2018.

Sol d'Oro Southern Hemisphere is an excellent opportunity to put our country on the world olive growing map, promote the Peruvian olive industry and show the world Peru’s biodiversity, as well as its cultural and gastronomic wealth.

About the award-winning companies

Valle Sur, part of Agroindustrial González, began its history in 1976, when Alfredo González created a small company in Tacna to process table olives. By 1999 the business had expanded and began extracting virgin olive oils. It is currently one of the main producers and exporters of extra virgin olive oil in Peru.

El Olivar, for its part, started out in this business in 1986 in the city of Lima, when the brothers Eduardo and Hugo Baumann created the company Productos Encurtidos S.A., dedicated to the sale of olives through the El Olivar brand. They currently work with products such as olive oil, olives, sauces, dressings and purées, among other things.

Details

Olives are harvested at different times around the world, one for the northern hemisphere and another in the southern hemisphere. Most extra virgin olive oil competitions are held following harvesting in the northern hemisphere so that the oils are fresh, however oils from the southern hemisphere that competed were at a disadvantage because they had already been in storage for a few months. Against this backdrop, the Olio Nuovo Day competition launched its Southern Hemisphere edition this year.

Sources: Valle Sur Perú/ El Olivar/ agraria.pe