🫒 Mari

Mari is an Iranian olive cultivar whose name means 'snake-like' in Persian: it got this name for its slightly elongated fruits. A synonym is Mary. According to the World Catalogue of Olive Varieties of the International Olive Council (IOC), the cultivar accounts for about 20% of the olive trees in northern Iran — in the provinces of Gilan, Zanjan and Qazvin; with 7,100 hectares, it ranks fifth by area in the country.

Mari is one of the ten traditional cultivars that make up most of Iran's olive trees, along with Zard, Rowghani, Gelooleh and others. Northern Iran has a climate favourable to the olive, but the cultivar itself, according to an IOC overview, is sensitive to cold.

The tree gives high yields, although with alternate bearing. It flowers mid-season, ripens early and produces a lot of pollen, so Mari is used as a pollinator for many cultivars. It cannot pollinate itself, though; its best pollinators are Manzanilla and Zard. The cultivar is susceptible to olive leaf spot.

Thanks to their flavour, Mari fruits mostly go into table olives, including green olives in brine. They are also rich in oil — about 20% — with oleic acid accounting for more than 75% of it 150 days after flowering. However, the fruits tend to drop prematurely, so when grown for oil they are not left on the tree for a late harvest.

What to expect. Mari fruits ripen early and drop easily, so they are picked sooner, mostly for table olives. If the label on Iranian olives names Mari, expect elongated fruits whose flesh is not very firm.