Olive Maturity Index (OMI) Calculator
Olive maturity index (OMI) calculator is used by thousands of professionals to determine the right time of harvest. It shows the degree of ripeness of olives.
How To Use It?
Randomly pick 100 olives in total. I like to pick them from more trees so I get a better average. Just make sure there are exactly 100 of them.
Once you gathered them, you should divide them into eight categories (from A to H), according to their look. Each category represents how ripe is olive. Check the table below, and categorize olives according to it.
| A | deep green color and hard fruit |
| B | yellow to green color, the fruit is a bit softer |
| C | less than half of the fruit skin is turning purple or black |
| D | more than half of the fruit skin is turning purple or black |
| E | the whole olive skin is purple or black, but with white or green flesh (cut the olive to check) |
| F | the entire olive skin is all purple or black, but with less than half of the olive flesh turning purple |
| G | the whole of olive skin is all purple or black, but with more than half of the olive flesh turning purple |
| H | olive skin is entirely purple or black, and the flesh is purple to the pit |
When you successfully categorize all the olives, count the olives inside each category, and enter the data in the calculator. After entering the data, click CALCULATE, and you’ll get a result – Olive Maturity Index.
What’s a Good OMI?
A good olive maturity index is anywhere between 2.5 and 4.5. However, in my experience, the highest quality olive oil is produced when the olive maturity index is between 3.0 and 4.0, depending on the olive variety. So, if your results are somewhere in that range (preferably closer to 3.0), you can start harvesting olive trees, and the olive oil should be high-quality.
