The qualitative characteristics of Thrapsano extra virgin olive oil depend on a combination of factors: variety cultivated (Psilolia/Koroneiki), the area's soil and climate, and mode of cropping and processing the olives (common pressing system).
It has the following physico-chemical characteristics:
- The taste is a composite of bitter and sweet. The prevalent bitterness of the young oil lessens
with time. - It has a strongly fruity aroma (particularly when the olive oil is new) that shows great persistence owing to the high number of constituents with gustatory and olfactory characteristics (saturated and monounsaturated aldehydes, terpenoid compounds).
- The colour is a clear light green.
- It flows thinly owing to its content of liquid glycerides with many unsaturated acids, properties that upgrade its quality and are due to the wet production environment (high annual rainfall, moisture-retaining soil and watering during the summer).
- It contains high quantities of oleic acid and vitamin E and is characterised by low acidity,
absorption factors K232 and K270 and a peroxide rating, chemical characteristics shaped by
the climatic peculiarities of the area and the post-harvest procedure, which involves common
pressing of the olives of all the area's growers, a practice unique in Crete.
