Mountain Oil from Podere valle Pulcini
Produced by Brian and Lynne Chatterton
Olive oil from the mountains of Italy
"Mountain oil" is a fuzzy concept not recognised in European labelling law as there is no firm definition of a "mountain." Our olive grove at Podere valle Pulcini near Castel di Fiori is at 550 m. (1800 feet or about half as high as Mt. Snowdon - 3560 feet). It is definitely more mountain than molehill. Our grove is only 100 to 150 m. below the maximum altitude for olives in central Italy.
The high altitude gives us a cool ripening period in autumn. A cool autumn means the olives are packed with flavour even if the oil percentage is much lower than olives grown on the plains of southern Italy or the warmer regions of North Africa.
Our cool climate and our local olive varieties give us a higher than average proportion of the desirable (from a health and flavour point of view) mono-unsaturated Oleic fat. Olive oil generally has 70 to 80% Oleic but the amount varies considerably with the warm regions of North Africa having figures as low as 56% while the mountain oils of Umbria, Tuscany and the Marche have as much as 84% Oleic.
What is extravergine?
The technical description of Extravergine Olive Oil is that it has an acidity of less than 0.8%. The acidity of the oil is a measure of its degradation and is roughly similar (but not identical) to rancidity. An oil with high acidity has been made from low grade olives (for example those picked up off the ground) or has been poorly processed. Acidity in olive oil is quite different from wine where an acid balance is essential for good wine.
"Extravergine" says very little about the flavour of the oil and many of the cheaper Extravergine olive oils pack such an insignificant flavour punch that one wonders what all the fuss is about.
The olive oil that fails the acid test of 0.8% when it come out of the the spout of the centrifuge (see below) is treated with chemicals to reduce the acidity and is sold on the lower shelves of the supermarket as "Olive Oil" - that is with capitals to signify it is a grade of olive oil. The chemicals not only reduce the acidity but destroy most of the flavour and the healthy anti-oxidants. Olive Oil - the grade - has a lower acidity after treatment than most Extravergine olive oil.
The low acidity levels of Olive Oil mean that unscrupulous blenders and bottlers can add it to true Extravergine and make a very health profit. The trade in adulterated olive oil is described in an excellent article by Tom Mueller - "Slippery Business" - in the New Yorker 13-08-2007 ( to read the article cut and paste the following address http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller if the link from Slippery Business does not work)
First and cold pressed oil
I am not sure of the origin of "first pressed" on labels because effectively olives are only pressed once yet the implication is that there are a series of pressings. The treatment of the solid waste the sansa to extract the tiny amount of oil left is as much a chemical process with solvents as a further pressing but I suppose it could at a pinch be called a second pressing. Sansa oil is terrible stuff and is not sold neat to consumers. Unfortunately it finds its way into the food processing industry so beware of products bottled or tinned "in olive oil" as it may be this olive oil extracted from the sansa.
There are some weird and wonderful stories out there on the web about olive oil and one I got off a US web site claimed that Extravergine olive oil was the first pressing, Virgin olive oil the second and Olive Oil (the grade) the third. This is complete nonsense as poor quality olives can certain produce Olive Oil on a first pressing.
Cold pressed is another vague term. Cold compared to what? Here in the mountain regions of Italy the olives can be very cold indeed when they are picked. I am writing this on 24th November 2008 a few days after we finished out harvest and it has been snowing and raining all day. The poor growers who have not finished their harvest will probably bring in fruit at 4 or 5 degrees and some heat is essential to extract any oil at all. In other parts of the Mediterranean region olives are harvested when the ambient temperature is above 20 degrees. Which is cold pressed? There is no doubt that excessive heat during process will reduce the quality of the oil but I am not sure that consumers would be able to draw any useful conclusion if the exact temperature was put on the label.
Mats or centrifuge
Our oil is processed by centrifuge which is by far the most common method of separation in Italy. There are a few frantoio (olive mills) that use the old mats. They have been modernised to the extent that they are now use nylon mats and the presses are hydraulic but contamination of the mats with moulds and other residues remains a problem and I firmly believe the centrifuge produces a more reliable result.
Our olive mill uses the two and half stage centrifuge which produces a better flavoured oil. The difficulty with centrifuges is that the paste made from the ground up olives is often too solid to feed into the centrifuge and, in the past, water was added to smooth the flow. The added water stripped out some of the flavour. Now our mill has modified the process and uses the juice extracted from our olives in a recycling loop, instead of fresh water, to smooth the flow. The juice is packed with flavour and the resulting oil is excellent.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away - if only it was that simple.
If you are looking for a magic bullet that provides you with good health while you continue to eat junk food then olive oil is not for you - nor is anything else!
The Mediterranean Diet - From where did it come and where has it gone?Of course the Mediterranean diet has been around for millennium but its healthy properties were first identified in the middle of the last century by the famous American professor Ancel Keys. I have quoted extensively from his study in our book "Discovering Oil." The major finding of his study showed that some of the lowest levels of mortality from heart disease were in the Greek islands and some of the villages of southern Italy where all the element of the Mediterranean diet were present. One needs to remember that the lowest absolute levels of mortality were at that time in Japan with a completely different diet. Keys went on to live in one of the southern Italian villages and became an honorary citizen until he died two years ago aged 100 years. It seems to have worked well for him. Over the half century since Keys' study the Mediterranean diet has declined rapidly in the Mediterranean region. According to Josef Schmidhuber (FAO July 2007) the eating habits of people in the Mediterranean countries identified by Keys as models for low heart disease, have greatly deteriorated. Calorie intake in Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta has increased by 30% over the last forty years and combined with a lower calorie expenditure it has turn the Greek population into the most obese in Europe. Measurement of the Body Mass Index have shown conclusively that Greece now has the highest prevalence of overweight and obese people within the European Union. Schmidhuber identified all the usual suspect for the death of the Mediterranean diet - the rise in the supermarkets, changes in food distribution, increased income, and greater food intake with more sedentary lifestyles. I would add to this list a decline in fish consumption due to over fishing. Fish has become an expensive luxury (much of it imported from outside the Mediterranean region) rather than a staple food. |
The Mediterranean diet has been shown to improve health and reduce heart disease. The components of the diet include the usual fruit, vegetables, lentil, chick peas, fish and of course plenty of olive oil and little animal fat. The olive oil is not just a couple of spoons drizzled over the occasional salad but a replacement for the margarine and butter that is used in large quantities in Britain, USA, Australia and other European countries outside the Mediterranean region.
Go cold turkey if you dare! Banish the butter and margarine from the table and replace it with a bottle of olive oil fitted with a pouring spout.
Olive oil in the Mediterranean dietThe olive oil industry has sometimes come close to hijacking the Mediterranean diet as a sales vehicle for its product. It is important to remember it is only one component. The important attributes of olive oil in terms of good health are the high levels of mono-unsaturated fat and the antioxidants. Mountain oil has a higher level of Oleic fat (the good mono-unsaturated one) and more anti-oxidants than the average low grade olive oil. Oleic levels in olive oil vary considerably and those from cool mountain regions are usually at the top end of the scale. There are literally hundreds of compounds in olive oil that have antioxidant properties but most are destroyed in the chemical processes that are used in the production of Olive Oil (the grade). Extravergine olive oil does not undergo any chemical treatment. It is extracted by mechanical action, pressure and perhaps a little heat but no chemicals. |
Average consumption of olive oil in Italy is about 15 litre per head per year while in Britain it is less than half a litre.
Olive oil and diabetesThere is a danger that olive oil becomes the snake oil of good health but serious studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet and extravergine olive oil have an impact of reducing the onset of type 2 diabetes. Dr. Miguel A Martinez-Gonzales from the University of Navarra at Pamplona, Spain reported in the online edition of the British Medical Journal (30th May 2008) a study with 13,380 Spanish university students. It showed that those students who scored highly for a "Mediterranean diet" in a survey had a lower risk of contracting diabetes. This was in spite of the relatively high fat content of the diet. It seemed that the olive oil with its high ratio of mono-unsaturated to saturated fat together with the antioxidants in the extravergine oil counteracted the high fat levels. Dr. Martinez-Gonzales' study has followed the student for an median period of 4.4 years and the incidence of type 2 diabetes is still low. There were 33 cases in a total of 58,918 person-years of study. While the results show a positive correlation, a longer period will give a greater level of confidence in the statistical results. |
Flavour is the key to consumption
Fortunately many of the flavour components are also closely associated with the anti-oxidants but flavour has another important part to play. Unless you enjoy your olive oil you are not going stick with it and make a real switch in your diet. If you long for margarine on your bread rather than olive oil you are unlikely to stay the course.
The mountain oils of Italy are strongly flavoured - spicy oils that can blow your head off when really fresh in the first few months after harvesting and pressing. It is a little like the first time you taste curry but certainly worth persisting with. Remember that the flavour will fade over the course of the year and you are not eating oil neat except at olive oil tastings.
When you use olive oil on warm vegetables (for example on potatoes instead of butter) the strong flavour comes into its own.
While olive oil is fine for high temperature cooking it is a waste to use the highly spiced mountain oils as their flavour evaporates at high temperature. Mountain oils are better with salads, warm vegetables, soups and of course they are essential for pasta. Many classic Italian pasta dishes depend on good quality olive oil to add flavour to what is essential bland food.
Organic olive oilExtravergine olive oil from our grove at Podere valle Pulcini is not certified as organic because we are small growers and the certification fees would cost a disproportionate amount for our small output. I am a great supporter of the organic ideals. There is not space here to undertake a complete critique of modern chemical farming but to me the major concerns are: * That many of the older chemicals have not been tested to modern standards. While the European Union is trying to establish some retrospective testing it is being strongly opposed by the chemical and farmers' lobby and is being undermined by national government who are applying for exemptions. * That testing applies to one chemical at a time while the real situation on farms is a whole cocktail of chemicals are applied. We know little about the combined effect. * The testing does not adequately examine the long term effects of chemicals. We have the same problem with medicines. They have traditionally been tested for their safety as a cure for a specific illness. Now more and more drugs are being provided on a long term basis for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression etc. We are now seeing that these drugs can interact in strange ways with individual peoples' genetic makeup. The very nature of chemical residues in food is a similar long term low level effect. The purpose of organic certification is to provide the consumer with confidence. It allows organic food to pass through a long food chain and still remain uncontaminated. Our oil does not need this as it is controlled by us and is sold direct to consumers. If we wanted to cheat we could do so whether we were certified or not. + We do not use insecticides or fungicides on our olive trees - not even the ones allowed by the organic associations. We are outside the zone for regular olive fly attacks but when they occur we use traps to control the fly not insecticide sprays. + We use a small amount of mineral fertiliser (phosphate) to encourage the growth of clovers and other legumes under the trees. These legumes are mulched into the soil in spring. They build the soil organic matter and provide a major source of nitrogen for the olive trees. We do not use chemical nitrogen such as urea or other nitrogen compounds. + We use a really tiny amount - perhaps 100 ml per ha per year - of herbicide. There are a number of perennial weeds which cause problems in the olives grove because they snag the nets. The black thorn is controlled by mowing but blackberries (brambles) and wild rose thrive with mowing and need to be controlled with herbicide. We have about a dozen new plants in our grove each year where they have germinated from seed carried by birds. These are spot sprayed in the spring. Our oil is not filtered after pressing and over time will probably throw a deposit in the same way as a red wine. The deposit is quite natural. Genetic ModificationAs far as I know there are no GM olives and I think that GM olives are unlikely to be produced as the olive tree lives for a long, long time and commercial interests would not make sufficient profit from sell young trees. Almost all GM crops are annuals as they can charge a royalty on the seed each year it is planted. The threat to olives comes from the other direction. The GM companies many try to increase the price of sunflower or some other oil seed crop by introducing olive flavours. |
How do you know it is our olive oil?
Of course you cannot be sure. You have to take it on trust. I think your chances of getting extravergine olive oil from our grove at Podere valle Pulcini are many hundreds of times better than getting an olive oil from Italy or Tuscany bottled by one of the big brands and sold in the supermarkets. There is a high chance that part of this supermarket oil came from Spain or Tunisia and there is even a chance that some is not extravergine or even olive oil. There is more testing of oils now but even the experts admit that they cannot detect levels of certain nut oils below about 10%.
DOP is a scheme that is being promoted by the Italian government and the European Union to provide a guarantee of the origin of olive oil and other products. While I applaud the intention I do feel they should clear up the gross abuse by the big bottlers before they extend the scheme to small growers.
I picked up this little pamphlet in our local shop that supplies tins and bottles for olivegrowers. On the back was the above sketch which explains the operation of the DOP scheme to perfection. I am surprised the artist was allowed such a subversive interpretation. Perhaps the bureaucrats did not understand the symbolism?
+ On the left is the largest figure wearing a tie and glasses. He obviously represents the super bureaucrat who controls the whole scheme. He is lurking a little off the page as he does not want his power to be too obvious. He is casting a eye over his underling - the inspector - who is reading the regulations to an olive tree and warning it that if it continues to produce erratic crops in contravention of Clause 52 a (ii) it will be subject to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months.
+ On the right are the olive growers frolicking in their shorts and mini skirts in the grove. They represent the bureaucrat's view of the growers as bucolic peasants enjoying the pleasures of the countryside. If the bureaucrat had any idea of olive production he would realise that all the serious work in the grove takes place in cold conditions where shorts and mini skirts would lead to frost bite. Pruning is in the winter months and picking is usually in November when winter is on its way and snow is not unknown.
On the left in the background is a chef scratching his head in puzzlement. If he is representing the consumer I am not surprised at his confusion. As for the average consumers they do not even come into the picture.
More about our grove and the oil
I do not want to be pretentious about our oil but quality olive oil is similar to wine - that is you are looking for taste and aroma with colour as an added bonus. A major difference is that olive oil should be consumed young while many wines improve with age. The term "novello" oil is the description of olive oil fresh from the frantoio (olive mill). It is packed with flavour and has a lovely green colour. Our olives are picked in November and the novello is available from early December. The oil will mellow with age but it is fine for a couple of years as long as it has not been exposed to excessive sunlight. We find the oil is a little too bland after about 18 month but that is a personal choice.
Olive Oil grades are similar to other commodity grade cooking oils. It does not matter when they are consumed within the "consume before" period.
Growing conditions and grove management are important for olive oil quality. Our autumns are cool because of the high altitude and the olives are packed with strong spicy flavour. We pick early (usually beginning at the end of the first week in November) for even more flavour even though we sacrifice some oil production. Early in the picking season the olives are strongly attached to the tree and we are forced to pick by hand or semi-mechanical means as machines (such as tree shakers) only remove a part of the crop.
We do not pick any of the olives off the ground as they do in some parts of Italy and other countries in the Mediterranean. Olives that have been on the ground for any length of time have a high acidity as they are on the way to becoming rancid.
The oil comes from a mixture of the classic Umbrian and Tuscany varieties. Leccino, Frantoio and Moraiolo dominate but there are a few old trees that are not identified as named varieties. They have yellow and purple fruits that add complexity to the flavour of the oil.
The olives are taken to the frantoio (olive mill) every few days to maintain their freshness. They are processed as a separate batch to ensure the oil is genuinely our own.
The whole year's work flowing into the drum!
We pick our own olives with the help of friends and do our own pruning and landcare.
A pruned olive tree in winter
Olive oil at home
Light does more damage to olive oil than air. One can leave a bottle half full but do not leave it in a sunny place for any substantial length of time.
A traditional Umbria olive oil container. They hold about 20 litre and are glazed on the inside. Lovely to look at but stainless steel is easier to handle.
For this reason I have somewhat reluctantly put some of our oil in green bottles which provide considerable protection against light. I feel it is a pity as the green-golden colour of the oil in a clear bottle is part of the sensory pleasure. Our oil is also available in tins which are more practical but have no romance at all. Unfortunately there is no alternative for oil sent to Britain as the carriers are expert in smashing bottles.
Here in Italy we have our oil in clear bottles on the table but we consume it at such a pace that there is no time for the light to do any damage. Podere valle Pulcini oil comes in bottles with a plastic restricter so they can be placed straight on the table for drizzling on food. If you wish to go up market remove the plastic insert and put in a cork with a pouring spout. Either way you are able to drizzle a thin stream of olive oil over your food. The oil can be stored in tins but poured into bottles for use on the table or when cooking.
A bottle of our olive oil catches the light.
Olive oil has traditionally been used in Britain for salad dressings but the Italian custom of applying it to warm food is not as common. Olive oil is ideal instead of butter or margarine on new or mashed potatoes, spinach (with some lemon juice and garlic), broccoli, cavalo nero, asparagus and any other steamed vegetable. Italians use a good olive oil to add a zing to vegetables and soups. In spring we make a stunning paste from fave (broad beans) that have mashed or zapped in a blender with fennel leaves or dill, lemon juice and of course plenty of good olive oil.
When making a pasta dish put a little olive oil in the bottom of warm bowl, add the cooked pasta, and mix with the sauce.
Purchasing our oil
Contact us by email: blchatterton@tiscalinet.it or telephone + 0763837186 (if ringing from outside Italy put in the country code for Italy +39 and leave in the 0 - for example from Britain 00390763837186) for details of price and availability.
For customers in the UK we can ship oil in 1 litre tins or larger but the freight is excessive for quantities under about 30 litres. We have dispatched oil in 750 ml bottles but so far the breakages have been horrendous and we recommend tins.
2006
2006 was an excellent crop of good quality olives which were processed into a well balanced oil. We had 122 kg of oil (about 135 litres) and decided to export some to Britain. We sent is in glass bottles and the carrier managed to break nearly half of them so we have decided in future to sent the oil in 1 litre tins. These are very practical as they exclude the light completely. They weigh only 180 gm per container whereas the bottles weighs more than the oil.
2007
We expected a poor crop after the 2007 harvest as olives tend to be alternate bearers but never as bad as it turned out. It was the worst crop in the 17 years we have been growing olives at Podere valle Pulcini.
The season started badly with a poor flowering which was expected after the excellent 2006 crop. During the spring we had a hail storm that cut a narrow strip of damage over the olive groves of Castel di Fiori. The hail knocked off many of the flowers from the tops of the trees. Finally the autumn period has been incredibly dry with rainfall only 20% in September, 25% in October and 15% in November.
The olive does not grow uniformly throughout the season. It grows very slowly at first - that is how it resists the normal summer drought through July and August - and then put on a spurt of growth in September and October before the harvest in November. Usually we have good rains during this period which encourages good oil production. Our lack of autumn rain in 2007 was the final straw that turned a poor crop into a disaster.
Due to the drought we picked very early. In fact we finished the harvest on 2nd November - a few days before we would normally start. When we took them to the frantoio they were quite mature. The oil has the characteristic spicy flavour of this region but perhaps a tiny bit less fruit than most years.
Our production was only 25 kg the amount we normally consume ourselves. It is only because we have some supplies from last year that we are selling any at all.
This is the label for our oil.
We have decided to provide our customers with olive oil from our neighbours this year as we would like them to enjoy the mountain olive oil produced in this zone.
Lorenzo and Rikke Misciattelli have kindly agreed to supply us with some of their oil. The grow olives at Montegiove which is over the hill from our grove. Their altitude is almost the same and they have a similar mix of classic Umbrian varieties Fortunately, while they also had a poor crop, they have a surplus to sell.
Lorenzo and Rikke comparing this season's olive oil and that from last year.
Lorenzo and Rikke live in the castle at Montegiove which is on their web site (http://www.castellomontegiove.com if the above link fails) and you can find out more about their oil at http://www.castellomontegiove.com/english/olivouk.htm
2008
The 2008 crop should bounce back to at least an average yield. The alternate bearing character of the olive tree is due to the fact that the olive oil and the next season's buds are produced at the same time. Thus the buds for the 2008 crop were produced in September 2007. September is the time when the small olives begin to swell rapidly and fill with oil. As the trees had a light crop there should have been plenty of energy left over in the trees to develop strong buds for a bumper crop in 2008 but.... there always seems to be a "but" in farming ..... September 2007 was very dry and the trees were quite stressed. I will be surprised if we have the exceptionally strong flowering in 2008 that we are entitled to.
After flowering it is the usual story of farming - and why we farmers have such a reputation as whingers - of jumping from one disaster to the next. The flowers have to pollinate and set. We have to control the olive fly and we need good rain in September to fill the olives and produce plenty of oil and hopefully some good buds for 2009. I will keep you posted.
June 2008
I have been surprised at the strong flower buds on many of the trees - particularly the young Moraiolo. Only a small number of of the flowers will set and produce fruit and there are plenty of opportunities for the pollination to be poor but with excellent spring rains the crop outlook is certainly much better than I thought during the winter.
The winter was comparatively mild and I expect the olive fly to be a serious problem this summer. I have started to collect old milk and water bottles for olive fly traps.
August 2008
We have had a hot dry summer, typical of the Mediterranean region. We have had two days of rain from the 18th June through July to mid August. The total rainfall has be 24 mm. The olives are thriving under these hot and dry conditions - at least the older trees are. The small trees that are less than ten years old have lost some of their olives and the remainder are very small. If it rains soon they will grow but my experience in other years is that if the autumn rain is late they never catch up and grow into a proper size.
I put out the traps for the dreaded olive fly in July using old bottles with a mixture of water, soil and urea. They seem to be working as they give off a strong smell of ammonia and are catching flies the right size for olive fly but it is not possible to identify them precisely in the soup.
I have put out one of these traps based on a phoneme that attracts the flies. They are caught on the sticky roof and can be identified.
November 2008
We finished our picking on 19th November. The crop was excellent. We had 130 kg of oil from 800 kg of fresh olives which was our second best crop for the 18 years we have been growing olives. The quality is better than last year with more intense flavour.
The autumn was certainly difficult for the olives. They thrive under the dry conditions of a normal Mediterranean summer but like some rain in autumn. This is the period when the olives swell rapidly and most of the oil is produced. We fortunately got 45 mm of rain in mid September but then nothing until the end of October by which time is was too late as we began picking a week or so later. The older trees pulled through but many of the young trees (about ten years old) had tiny fruit, about half the normal size. They were very time consuming to pick. At least they had some fruit. In earlier years the young trees simply dropped their fruit when suffering water stress.
We used a mechanical aid to pick most of our olives this year. It is an electrical device that runs off a car battery and is quiet enough not to disturb the peace of the olive grove. It has a series of whirling fingers that beat the olives off at very close range. This is important as we pick early when they are strongly attached to the trees and trees shakers would only remove a small proportion of the crop.
The machine improves our productivity by about double but just as important is the fact that we do not have to climb into the tree or up ladders. This year the local casualty list during olive picking included one broken leg and one broken hip so olive trees can be dangerous. We took the olives to the mill in two batches to make sure they were fresh.
There was not much olive fly in the district this year - certainly not at our altitude but the traps seem to have been effective as we had zero infection. The fly lays eggs that hatch into grubs that eat the olives and their breathing hole allows fungus to enter the olive. The fungus gives the oil a mouldy taste.
December 2008
The Times (London) onlineDecember 5, 2008 The difficulty in finding the finest olive oil
Oil pressed from the first green olives is a taste like no other. But fraud means that finding a good one is hard.
Alex RentonThe green of the olive oil is shocking: like Night Nurse. Or Swarfega. You wouldn't put it in your mouth if it wasn't so reassuringly expensive. With reverence, we poured it into white china saucers and offered it round to the supper guests with warm flatbread. Tasting the oil was a show in three acts: the first, smooth and scented; then a trumpet blast of green pepperiness and a long, redolent finale that brought out the guests' fancy adjectives: “almondy”, “citric”, even “raw caulifloweresque”. The words I used were “acidic” and “scary”. One of the great dates in the foodie calendar has arrived, and the new season's olive oil is in the shops. Around the Mediterranean, olives are harvested between late October and mid-December, and the fruits of the first pressing are much prized, with prices to match. Last week I tasted two varieties, picual and arbequina, from a grand Spanish estate, the Castillo de Canena in the Guadalquivir valley. These oils weren't just virgin, or early-season - the really, really green one boasted of being “first day of harvest”. Rosa Vañó, whose family have run the estate since 1790, explained that the colour comes from pressing the olives so early that they are more green than purple. When, still reeling from my first explosive taste, I questioned whether that was actually a good idea, Ms. Vañó nailed me with a cold look that was pure Andalusian aristocrat: “But can't you see - it tastes of olives!” She was right, it did. And olive oil usually doesn't. The British are fairly ignorant on this subject. After all, only a generation ago we used olive oil mainly for drizzling into children's ears. Now most self-respecting English kitchens contain a bottle of extra virgin and a bottle of ordinary. Yet, of all the continental foodstuffs that we have welcomed to these shores, olive oil remains particularly mysterious. What's so good about “cold-pressed”? How much more virginal can an extra virgin be? In my local Italian deli there are many brands of olive oil, at up to £50 a litre. The price labels are the only things on them that mean much: what, you wonder, looking at one gold-wrapped “extra vergine”, does “superior category” mean? And if this oil has been “obtained directly from olives and only by mechanical means”, what does that say about the cheaper ones? These are the signs of a business in a mess and, of course, Italy has suffered many olive oil scandals (the Mafia has a finger in the barrel, apparently). With some green colouring and good-quality rapeseed or soya oil, it's quite easy to fool the punters. But more shocking is the fraud that is permitted by Italian law. “Extra virgin” has no regulated meaning. And “Italian olive oil” says no more than that it was bottled in Italy. The oil may well have come in a tanker from Tunisia. Rosa Vañó was not impressed when I asked how we could trust her olive oil. “Look at the label,” she said. “It's the family reserve! It was picked on our estate! It's won a Coq d'Or [a top French prize]!” She was more forthcoming when I asked what you could do with something so fierce-tasting; so forthcoming that she ordered up some fantastic tapas. A little dish of boned chicken wings, sautéed in her picual olive oil. A lozenge of salty manchego cheese wrapped in dried beef and dressed with the luminous green syrup of first-day arbequino. They were very good; I began to see the point. Green olive oil is, of course, useful for cheering up a sad supermarket avocado or a salad of mozzarella, basil and tomato. But its best use is for shocking your friends: it will look fantastically lurid dribbled on to the orange surface of my winter crowd-pleaser of pumpkin, paprika and chorizo soup. Castillo de Canena olive oils are available at Waitrose or at www.kingsfinefood.co.uk. |
Alex Renton claims that the British are fairly ignorant about olive oil. He certainly does not cover himself with glory in this little piece. I know how he feels as I used to write a weekly column in an Adelaide newspaper on wine and at times one is absolutely desperate for something to write about.
Perhaps the only way to obtain green oil in the Guadalquivir valley is to pick the olives very early and very green but I would be surprised as here in central Italy skin colour has little impact on the oil colour. This year with the dry autumn our olives were nearly all dark - almost black - yet the oil was our normal green. There were perhaps 5% of the Frantoio variety in the crop that had a green skin colour but obviously they could not have had much effect. I think the problem is that people cannot get grapes and wine out of their minds. Most of the colour of red wine comes from the skins. The juice alone is a rosé. Olives are completely different. Oil is not the juice of the olive - which is watery like grape juice. The oil comes from inside the cells of the pulp.
Alex Renton is right to point out the difficulties of obtaining authentic olive oil but he is mistaken when he says extravergine has no regulated meaning. It is strictly defined but as I pointed out above the definition of acid levels does not relate directly to flavour. I like to compare it to alcohol in wine. In the past - back thirty or forty years ago - high alcohol was a sign of quality. Winemaking methods were rough and ready and high alcohol was a good indicator that the wine would keep. We have now gone beyond that and we are worried about too much alcohol.
With olive oil low acid is a sign of a good oil but not the only one. It still matters but there are other important criteria.
I have already commented on the fallibility of "cold pressed" as a measure of quality and if he understood the way acidity was measure he would understand the difference between extravergine and virgine olive oils.
2009
June 2009
June is the season for cutting the grass in the olive grove and harvesting the cherries. The cherries have been so abundant this year the even the birds have lost interest and, except for the first tree growing away from the house in the centre of the olive grove, they have not touched them. While we have been sharing the cherries with neighbours the surplus has been bottled and turned into jam.
In May we were worried (those whinging farmers again) as it was exceptionally dry. Rainfall was only 25% of average. While we had good winter rainfall and the soil profile was full we like to have some further spring rain to reduce the stress on the trees during flowering. After flowering the summer drought improves the quality of the fruit.
Fortunately we had 85 mm of rain over a couple of days in early June and the soil profile was replenished. The olives have had a good number of flowers and we are waiting to see how they have set. There has not been excessive hot wind or cold fog during flowering so wind pollination of the flowers should be reasonable but it is unwise to count the olives before they harvest and are in the crate.
The young trees are increasing is size and production each year. In this zone they are slow to come into production and their contribution to the total crop is not significant until they are ten years old. Now they are increasing rapidly in their production. The young trees we hope will not just increase our production but also the quality of our oil as they are nearly all top varieties in terms of flavour.
September 2009
It seems that we had our "opening" on the 15th September. This is not the inauguration of some building or another opera but the beginning of the growing season. One can never be completely sure until a month afterwards that the growth of the grasses and clovers will continue but we had a good rain on 15th (25 mm or an inch under the old measures) followed by another 40 mm over the following week. That has given a good germination of annuals but more important for us now we are no longer livestock farmers is that it freshened up the olives. The young trees were looking a little sad and the olives were wrinkled with lack of moisture. They are now looking much happier and the olives seem to get bigger almost as one looks at them.
The crop is certainly not brilliant. I cannot offer any excuses for the trees except that we had an excellent crop last year and they are a little tired. That is not a whimsical as it sounds. The olive trees do produce buds for next year at the same time as they are producing fruit for this year. While they were producing an excellent crop last year they had little energy left over for the next crop (this year). Fortunately the young trees are better than the old ones but I am still expecting a total yield well below average.
We were lucky to be spared the hail. During one of the storms that made up our 65 mm opening rain was one intense shower that turned to hail over Montegabbione and Monte Arale. The mountain was quite white. We were only a few kilometres away and had only rain.
November 2009
Picking weather has been good as it can be very cold indeed in November. The crop was good but not a record but a disaster happened when I dragged the 50 litre drums from the car to the storage room. One fell, the top burst off and I lost 10 or 12 litres of precious oil. To make matters worse it happened in front of the kitchen door so I had this big oil patch to remind me of the tragedy.
2010
March 2010
Winter is the time for pruning but it has been slow this year as we have had a wet winter - not exception rainfall but British rain. We have recorded day after day with light rain. Normally we have heavy rain. That is how we have so much more rain than London (850 mm compared to 500mm) but half the number of rainy days. It is a miserable job pruning in the rain besides it spreads bacteria diseases that are transmitted by splashing onto open cuts.
Until the last few days we have not had the cold that struck northern Europe but on 10th we got 35 cm of snow. This is the heaviest snow fall since 1996-97 when we got a metre. Luckily it did not come with a cold north easterly wind. Olive trees are resistant to frost up to about -8° C and so far this winter we have not had those temperatures. There appears to be no frost damage but some limbs have been broken by the weight of the snow.
The damage is nothing like the poor Cyprus trees in the background. The olive trees usually spring back but the Cyprus trees have snapped off and many are only half as tall.
June 2010
June is when the olive trees flower in this part of the Mediterranean. Our Tunisian friend told me that his olive trees flowers in late March.
This is of course a critical period for the next crop, Good flowering like the photo above is a good start but only a start. The flowers have to pollinate. The pollen is carried by the wind which should not be too strong or too weak. Fog or rain is not favourable to good pollination. After that hail, olive fly or drought can ruin the crop. Such is the life of the farmer!
Spring is also the time that olive oil from last year comes into its own with the spring vegetables. One of the first is the fave or broad bean. We pick them young, steam them for a few minutes and then mash them into a delicious paste with some fresh fennel leaves or dill, salt, pepper, lemon juice and of course that strong spicey olive oil from last year. It is not possible to keep up with the beans and as they mature one needs to cook them for a longer period and to peel the beans.
The fave paste is spread on the olive oil bread - what a marvellous combination!
This is the olive oil focaccia in all its glory. Of course it can be made at any time of the year but with the fave paste it is sublime.
The next vegetable to come into season is asparagus which we also steam and then drizzle with olive oil, salt and lemon juice and perhaps tarragon.