🫒 Arauco

Arauco is an Argentine olive cultivar with very large fruit, grown mainly for table olives. The IOC World Catalogue of Olive Varieties names La Rioja Province as its homeland; its synonyms are Azapa, Azapeña, Criolla, Sevillana and Sevillana de Azapa. Thanks to its large, fleshy fruit, it was Argentina's most widespread table cultivar until the late 1990s.

The cultivar's history goes back to Spanish times. According to records, it was brought from Spain to the Peruvian coast more than 500 years ago, from where it reached Chile and Argentina; in Spain itself the cultivar has disappeared, so it is probably a natural cross with Cornicabra as a parent. According to an IOC overview, Argentina's first olive orchards were planted in Arauco (La Rioja), where a tree about 400 years old still grows.

The cultivar is well adapted to a dry climate, so it spread to the provinces of Catamarca, San Juan, Mendoza and Córdoba. Until the late 1990s it was the country's most widespread table cultivar thanks to its large fruits with a high proportion of flesh. It ripens late: the fruits turn from green to greenish yellow, then wine red and black. It is partially self-fertile; the best pollinators are Manzanilla, Ascolana Tenera, Genovesa and Arbequina.

The fruits cling firmly to the branches, making machine harvesting difficult. The tree is sensitive to cold, salinity, Verticillium wilt and the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa. Data on its oil differ: the newer IOC catalogue reports a fairly high oil and polyphenol content in ripe fruits, while a 2012 overview reports a low one.

Why it matters to you. The firm flesh lets Arauco be made into various styles of table olives, and the stone comes away easily, making the olives easy to eat.