Mirko's Blog
An Italian Olive Harvest...
Posted on Nov 29, 2009 by Mirko Staff
Olives are a staple on our menu, but there is nothing common and ordinary about olives. The steps that are taken to get them to your table are steeped in Italian tradition…
In most Mediterranean areas of Italy, olives are harvested in the months of November, December and January. To this day, olives are picked by hand, and they are combed from the tree branches with a long instrument that resembles a giant pair of scissors. Machines tend to bruise the fruit, which has a direct impact on the taste, so this old method known as Brucatura is the best way to harvest.
Olive harvesting is difficult work. Usually, the entire family, and often their friends, are called upon to pitch in with the farm workers for the harvest. The olives are always picked when green and timing is very important. Once the fruit is off the trees, to avoid spoiling, the fruit must be rushed to the press. Fermentation becomes an issue once the olives are picked. So, it is on to the presses as quickly as possible.
An olive is about 20 percent oil, so it normally takes about 200 olives to produce a litre/quarter gallon! However, with the finer and more expensive oils, it sometimes takes the fruit of an entire tree to produce a litre!
In most of Italy, the olives are pressed at a communal mill which is called a Frantoio. At the frantoio, many growers bring their olives to be pressed, but to be sure that only his harvest goes into the pressing, each grower comes along with them to the mill.
Olive Harvest…..A centuries old tradition still very much alive and well in Italy!
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