Olive

Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil – Andalusia alone is home to tens of millions of olive trees.

An evergreen, slow-growing tree with silvery-grey, lance-shaped leaves and a gnarled trunk that becomes hollow with age. It tolerates drought, heat and poor, stony soils, which is why it has been cultivated throughout the Mediterranean Basin for thousands of years. Its fruit yields olive oil and table olives, and its wood is hard and beautifully grained. The oldest olive trees in Spain are more than a thousand years old.

Significance in the country

Spain usually produces about 40% of the world’s olive oil, and the olive groves of the province of Jaén form one of the largest tree monoculture landscapes on Earth. Olive oil is the foundation of Spanish cuisine and an important export.

Where it grows

Grown throughout the Mediterranean part of the country; its undisputed heartland is Andalusia (especially Jaén and Córdoba), with Castilla–La Mancha, Extremadura and Catalonia also important.

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