Chemlali olive cultivar (variety)

Chemlali is an olive cultivar / variety indigenous to Tunisia. It is one of the two popular varieties of olive trees in Tunisia. (The other is Chetoui) Characteristic of Chemlali is that the trees must be planted at least 22-24 metres apart because of the eventual length of their roots. As such, Chemlali trees can also go on very little rain (often no irrigation system is needed depending on the region). Chemlali trees have been cited by at least one Tunisian olive orchard farmer to be suitable for organic farming. (On his orchard, no fertilization of the Chemlali trees were needed)

These regions in Tunisia have been observed to have Chemlali trees:

• Centre-east
• Gafsa
• Segermes
• Sfax

These Tunisian companies have been cited to produce Chemlali-based Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO):

• Bio House (Gafsa)
• Kaïa (Centre-east)
• Segermès (Segermes)

Many more companies presumably produce and bottle EVOO based on Chemlali trees but it takes more work to discern the variety of the evoo because most (but not all) bottled evoo in Tunisia, at the time of this writing, don’t list the olive variety on the bottle.

(The above information isn’t conclusive and will be added to overtime)