The Gordal de Sevilla is the olive that runs from 60 to 140 fruits per kilo, and the Manzanilla the one that runs from 141 to 350.
Those two ranges sit next to each other and never cross, which makes a jar of Seville olives identifiable by counting rather than by reading.
What is the difference between manzanilla and gordal olives?
Size, and the two specifications fix it exactly. The Gordal de Sevilla admits a maximum caliber of 60/70 and a minimum of 121/140 fruits per kilo; the Manzanilla, a maximum of 141/160 and a minimum of 321/350. The ranges are adjacent and never overlap, so one extra fruit per kilo changes the indication.
Why the processing cannot leave the province
The specification argues a rule that looks protectionist and turns out to be technical. Freedom from damage depends on the groves being close to the plants, and any transport from distant areas would spoil fruit picked by hand from a thin-skinned variety.
The production and processing area therefore covers the whole province of Seville, according to the Junta de Andalucía. The climate carries the other half of the case: the fruit reaches its best in the mild warm conditions of the Guadalquivir riverbank and the Seville countryside, where a July mean daily maximum of 36.0°C is part of the picture.
That is the same ground crossed by the day trips out of Seville, on the M-124 towards Carmona or the M-172 lines towards Santiponce.
Jars carry the indication logo and numbered non-reusable back labels that the Consejo Regulador issues, plus the compulsory mention of the protected indication. An optional line, picked by hand, is permitted precisely because the harvest is manual.
A market counter has none of that, and there the counting works. Stalls in a Seville abastos market sell loose, and the fresh trade closes at 3pm at the Mercado de Triana even though the building runs to midnight.
Three commercial presentations exist and are fixed, and the stuffing list is closed at seventeen products or their natural pastes.
- Whole. Fruit keeping its original shape, stone in.
- Pitted. Stone removed, shape largely preserved.
- Stuffed. Pitted and filled from the closed list, which runs from pepper and piquillo pepper through anchovy, tuna, salmon, cheese, ham and jalapeño chilli.
One process, sodium hydroxide first
Both indications describe the same five-stage curing, and the first stage is the one that gives the technique its name outside Andalucía. A dilute sodium hydroxide solution, the operation the specification the Junta de Andalucía publishes calls cooking in the Sevillian style.
Its purpose is to hydrolyse oleuropein, the bitter glucoside in the fruit. The olives are then washed and moved to brine, where natural lactic fermentation leaves the pH below 4.2 and the salt between 7.5 and 9 per cent.
The five stages run in order: hand picking by ordeño, the alkaline cook, washing, brine and fermentation, then sorting by size. Nothing in that sequence differs between the two olives.
The lactic fermentation does double duty as preservation and as flavour, which is what let these olives travel long before refrigeration. The residual alkalinity that the Consejo Regulador sets stays below 0.140 N in both, and the finished fruit is graded Extra or Primera under the table olive quality standard.
Where the two specifications diverge
| Parameter | Gordal | Manzanilla |
|---|---|---|
| pH | Below 4.2 | Below 4.2 |
| Salt, weight per volume | 7.5 to 9 % | 7.5 to 9 % |
| Residual alkalinity | Below 0.140 N | Below 0.140 N |
| Free acidity as lactic acid | 0.7 to 1.5 % | 0.7 to 1.2 % |
| Flesh to stone ratio in thickness | Above 1.1 mm | Above 0.9 mm |
| Shape | Ovoid, no nipple, asymmetrical | Spherical and symmetrical |
Three of the six parameters are identical and three diverge. Free acidity is the only chemical split, at three tenths more ceiling for the larger olive, and the Gordal also shows small white lenticels on a yellowish green skin against the Manzanilla’s even bright to yellowish green.
Manzanilla is a variety, and the label proves it
The word appears on supermarket shelves across the English-speaking world attached to small green olives of unstated origin. Under the protected indication it means something narrower: the Manzanilla Sevillana variety, grown and cured within the province, meeting a written specification.
Only fruit that meets that specification carries the name legally, according to the Junta de Andalucía. The curing method is a separate matter with its own name, the Sevillian style, and it applies to both indications rather than to one.
The distinction matters when reading a jar. A small green olive stuffed with pimiento is not necessarily a Manzanilla de Sevilla, and a Manzanilla de Sevilla is not necessarily stuffed at all: whole, pitted and stuffed are three separate presentations of the same protected fruit.
Count them and you know which is which
| Indication | Minimum caliber | Maximum caliber |
|---|---|---|
| Aceituna Manzanilla de Sevilla | 321/350 fruits per kilo | 141/160 fruits per kilo |
| Aceituna Gordal de Sevilla | 121/140 fruits per kilo | 60/70 fruits per kilo |
The smallest Gordal the rules allow is still larger than the largest Manzanilla the rules allow. The border sits between 140 and 141 fruits per kilo, and a kilo of Manzanilla can hold almost six times as many pieces as a kilo of Gordal.
That ratio is worth holding on to at a counter, because it is what a price per kilo hides. Two bags of the same weight and the same price can differ by more than two hundred olives, and the difference is legal rather than commercial.
Frequently asked questions about Seville olives
What is the difference between manzanilla and gordal olives?
Size, fixed by their specifications with no room for doubt. The Gordal de Sevilla admits 60 to 140 fruits per kilo and the Manzanilla 141 to 350. The two ranges are adjacent and never overlap at any point, so counting settles it.
Is manzanilla an olive variety or a curing style?
A variety, with a legal definition. The protected indication covers the Manzanilla Sevillana variety cured the traditional way of the area, and only fruit meeting the specification can carry the name. The curing itself is a separate thing, known as the Sevillian style.
What is Sevillian style curing?
Treatment with a dilute sodium hydroxide solution, the opening stage of the process. Its purpose is to hydrolyse oleuropein, the bitter glucoside behind the fruit’s natural bitterness. The olives are then washed and moved to brine for natural lactic fermentation.
Why must Seville olives be processed in the province?
Because the fruit has to arrive undamaged and only short transport allows it. The specification states that freedom from damage depends on olive groves being close to the processing plants, and that any long journey would spoil fruit picked by hand with thin skin.
What can be used to stuff a Seville olive?
Seventeen listed products or their natural pastes, among them pepper, piquillo pepper, onion, almond, celery, anchovy, olive, orange or lemon peel, hazelnut, caper, tuna, salmon, cheese, ham, garlic, lemon and jalapeño chilli. The list is closed.
One hundred and forty-one is the number that separates them. Below it the olive is gordal, above it manzanilla.