🫒 Baladi

Baladi is a Lebanese olive cultivar used both for oil and for table olives. The word “baladi” means “local”: it is what farmers called the olives they considered their own, Lebanese ones. That is why the name covers a very diverse group of trees. Researchers describe great variation in fruit shape, and the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) distinguishes the clones Baladi 1 and Baladi 2.

Baladi grows in all of Lebanon's main olive areas: the North and the South, Mount Lebanon and the Beqaa Valley. Together with Souri it is the country's leading cultivar, and “baladi” is the name heard most often in Lebanese groves.

The fruit is small, black when fully ripe, with relatively little flesh compared with the stone. The oil content, however, is high, about 28 % of fresh weight. The tree is very productive, shows little alternate bearing and tolerates drought well, but it barely pollinates itself, so it needs pollinator neighbours. Its weak points are the olive fruit fly, the olive moth, weevils, peacock spot and Verticillium wilt.

The best time to harvest for oil is October. Baladi oil generally meets the IOC standards for extra virgin, although its oleic acid content is fairly low, about 66 %, with phenols at around 220 mg per kilogram. Its Δ-7-stigmastenol content is sometimes too high, so it is checked before export.

On a Lebanese label. Baladi on a Lebanese oil label is not an exact cultivar name; it means “local olive”, so the taste can differ from grove to grove. Freshness depends on how soon the fruit is processed: the IOC catalogue says Baladi olives should be pressed within one day, two at most.