Gone picking !!!!!

bread and freshly pressed olive oil

With these olives it never seems to end! As you surely remember a couple of weeks ago we made our olive harvest. Then, with great satisfaction for two weeks we’ve been watching everyone from the Allerona village picking theirs . I say satisfaction because clearly ,when you know that your work is done. … it’s normal to  enjoy seeing others work …. So for days ,under the rain and  wind but also with some sun , all around Allerona ,people were doing their harvest. Now , maybe your asking, but what happens with all these olives ?

So  here we would like to show you a few of the  steps taken to produce  fantastic  Extra Virgin Olive Oil .The technique used in the old mills (Frantoio) is called Cold Press ( Macinazione a freddo), using two big stone wheels to crush the olives into a paste. This is then placed  on disc shaped mats. The mats are then stacked and pressed … … .. and from here comes the new oil !!!!! An easy process that goes back 100’s of years and  for centuries  bread with freshly pressed olive oil has been  a delicacy . Yes  bread. Infact  the first thing everyone does, after crushing their olives  is rush home with great excitement and pour the oil over a slice of bread, delizioso!!!!!  The best way to taste it. Slightly peppery and bitter, fresh and rich … … … sorry but it is something that cannot be described. I would seriously recommend to any one who is lucky enough to be traveling in Italy during this period to try it!!!

Actually the harvest is not even finished for us. Today we go to Abruzzo to help my parents harvest their olives … MAMMA MIA … … I hope the weather is going to be good! A nice weekend to all of you.