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. It 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 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 to rancidity. An oil with high acidity has been made from low grade olives 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 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% 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 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)
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 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.
Mountain oil has a higher level of Oleic fat (the good mono-unsaturated one) and more anti-oxidants. These are the key health components you are looking for. The levels are considerably higher than the cheap Olive Oil grade from the supermarket and Mountain oil is ideal for consumption at the table.
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.
Research on dietary factors for health are notoriously difficult to conduct but some interesting work being done in Spain indicates that olive oil is not only more healthy than animal fats but if the olive oil is extravergine it is more healthy than a low fat diet. Personally I think a great deal more work needs to be done to confirm these results over a longer time scale but they are very interesting. For more details see the various reports printed in the Australian Olivegrower during 2006 and 2007.
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 oil
Extravergine 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.
We do not use insecticides or fungicides on our olive trees - not even the ones allowed by the organic associations. We use a small amount of mineral fertiliser (phosphate) to encourage the growth of clovers and other legumes under the trees. These are mulched into the soil in spring. They build the soil organic matter and provide a major source of nitrogen for the olive trees.
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.
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.
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 then 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 as machines 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. Olive 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 separately 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 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.
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 24 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 Rickke 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 Rickke 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. 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 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 ifentify them precisely in the soup.
I have put out one of these traps based on a phernome that attracts the flies. They are caught on the sticky roof and can be identified.
