We drove up and saw some wonderful groves of olives and more olives, there were even a few pomegranate trees and grapes. Our wonderful tour guide, Sabrina, began to share with us her love of olives. She met her husband in another town where she went to university and received a degree in economics. The olive mill actually belongs to her inlaws but she successfully runs the business now. Harvesting of the olives occurs in a small window of 60 days, from mid October to mid December. It is during this time, the employees are working around the clock. The oilves picked in the morning are processed within 6-8 hours, and therefore in the machines and being pressed by lunchtime. The evening olives are processed late evening. She told us they barely get sleep during this period but since it is the only time of year to harvest, they do what must be done. And the olive oil produced during that timeframe gives them enough supply to selll for a whole year. Pretty darn impressive.
Sabrina began to tell us about the oilve and the cycle it has. An olive tree takes about 3-4 yrs to produce fruit.. Once it starts producing, it can produce forever. Their oldest tree is 150 yrs old, however, in other parts of Italy and the world, there are olive trees well over thousands of years old. Truly miraculous and unimaginable to any American. While the trees currently had olives on them, the olives are hitting their most crucial time in their growth cycle. Right now, the olives consist of pulp, pits, and water, which makes up about 50% of the olive. At this stage though, the olive is starting its production of olive oil, which comprises about 17% of the olive. By the time harvest occurs, the olives will have reached maximum maturity.
During the harvest time, they lay nets along the bottom of the tree and rack the leaves and branches to remove the olives. (At this point, I would say you need to see "Under the Tuscan Sun" and watch the olive harvesting part to fully grasp the idea.) The leaves and olives drop to the net and once the tree is complete, the net is rushed to the porcessing room. What I am most excited about is that during the harvest period, YOU can offer your help and participate in the harvesting of the olives. I am so there!! What a true Italian experience.
Sabrina took us into the processing room where we learned about extra virgin olive oil, only the best for your body, and how EVOO is determined. This of course is based on acidity levels of the oil. This mill only produces the EVOO but apparently there are a few different kinds based upon the taste and type of olive harvested.Once the olives are processed, they are moves to the holding room where they can be stored in large vats or placed into dark bottles. Apparently, use of a dark bottle for EVOO is imperative if you want great tasting EVOO. Additionally, and in case you ever wanted to know, your olive oil is good up until 18 months after the date it is placed in the bottle. So sorry, buying it at Costco will not saving you money in the long run since 1) the jar is light colored thus ruining the taste and 2) it might take you a long time to use it all, so extreme couponers, beware!
After learning about the olives, we entered the tasting room. She set before us little cups of 3 different types of olive oil and then after each taste, we tried it on bread. (Sorry there were no Italian spices to be had for the olive oil and bread snacks, that is not the Italian way, but thanks to Maggiano's for putting it in my head that Italians eat like that all the time) When you have warmed up your olive oil by holding it in your palm and covering it with the other hand, then you take a small sip and let it sit on the front of your tongue. Then you make this weird slurping noise to get the EVOO to the rest of your mouth. (Word of caution, it is not a shot glass so downing EVOO like it's a shot of whiskey will make your throat burn!) The stronger the EVOO, the more burn you can receive in your throat. Oh and if you want to know what it smells like, it's grass I tell you, grass. And honestly, I did not enjoy tasting Olive oil straight up. But you know it didn't stop me from shopping and getting some nice soaps, lotions, and EVOO for some gifts.
Soon after we made our way to lunch just around the corner to a little winery that served lunch. We enjoyed a nice risotto with asparagus, an antipasti platter and a little dessert cooking. In addition to the food, we had a small wine tasting which included 2 whites and 4 reds, none of which I enjoyed. But I was there for the friendship and experience so no complaints otherwise! In all, this is a wonderful tour and when you get to Italy, make sure you visit an olive mill. I cannot wait to harvest the olives and to have that wonderful experience too.
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