🫒 Memecik

Memecik is a Turkish olive cultivar grown both for oil and for table olives. According to the World Catalogue of Olive Varieties of the International Olive Council (IOC), it comes from Muğla province; in different areas it goes by Aşı Yeli, Gülümbe, Şehir, Tekir, Taşarası or Yağlık.

It is one of the most important cultivars of the Aegean Region, especially its southern part: according to a 2016 sector report, Memecik accounts for about 19% of all olive trees in Türkiye. The tree is vigorous, with a dense crown. It is very drought-tolerant, so it is recommended where there is no irrigation, and it copes moderately well with cold. Yields are good, though they alternate from year to year.

The cultivar is easy to recognise: the tip of the fruit carries a distinct “nipple”. The fruit is large, about 220 per kilogram, and the flesh weighs 6.7 times as much as the stone and clings firmly to it. It ripens from mid-November to mid-December. The fruit holds over 22% oil, so most of the crop goes to oil, while the rest is prepared as Spanish-style green olives or as black olives.

Memecik oil is balanced: fruity, with bitterness and pungency, and it keeps for a long time. Its total phenols range from 296 to 407 mg per kilogram, depending on how ripe the fruit is. Since 2024 the EU has registered the name Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı: this oil is made only from Memecik grown in Aydın province, where the cultivar supplies 75% of the olives.

Reading the label. Bitterness and pungency in Memecik oil point to phenols, not a flaw. Look for the cultivar name or the PDO Aydın Memecik Zeytinyağı; table olives from Aydın carry a protected name of their own, Aydın Memecik Zeytini.