🫒 Frantoio

Frantoio is an ancient Italian oil olive cultivar and one of the best known in the country; its oil is valued for its fruitiness and stability. According to the World Catalogue of Olive Varieties of the International Olive Council (IOC), its genetic origin is unknown: similar profiles in the Eastern Mediterranean suggest that it came from there to Italy and France.

Over the centuries Frantoio spread to many Italian regions and acquired dozens of names, among them Correggiolo, Frantoiano, Gentile, Razzola and Raggiolo. The IOC notes that the same genotype grows in Tuscany, Umbria, Liguria and Apulia under different names, including Taggiasca in Liguria. Together with Carolea and Leccino it covers 370 thousand hectares, or 32.7% of Italy's olive area (IOC, 2012). It is now planted in many olive-growing countries; in California the cultivar Oblonga proved to be genetically identical to it.

Frantoio cuttings root easily (about 70%), yields are high and steady, and self-pollination reaches about 28%. The fruit ripens late and unevenly but comes away from the branch easily, which makes it convenient for mechanical harvesting. The cultivar is very susceptible to olive leaf spot, olive knot and the olive fruit fly, moderately sensitive to cold and partly resistant to verticillium wilt.

The oil yield is average, about 18%. The oil has about 75% oleic acid and plenty of phenols. Frantoio is among the cultivars of the EU protected names Istra (2018) and, since 2023, Riviera Ligure.

On the label. Frantoio oil is fruity with a slight bitter edge, which points to phenols rather than a flaw. Readers who prefer a softer taste can look for blends that also include Maurino, whose oil is mild.