Being huge fans of the Italian cuisine, we’ve gotten to try many different foods from so many parts of Italy, from the north of Milan to the central of Tuscany and even the southern spices and dishes of Sicily. A common factor of many Italian dishes is the fresh and organic olive oil used from the 500 different types of olive trees across the country. Olive harvesting starts in October and runs through the festive months of November and December, which is usually the optimum time to gather the fruit as they’re more mature, therefore they can produce more oil. We were not surprised to find out that Italy consumes the most olive oil in the world, around 650,000 tonnes are consumed within the country and 300,000 tonnes are exported worldwide!
The olive season is a time where businesses and locals both get to together to collect as many olives as possible, locals can also olive pick for free in some agriturismos who don’t need so much oil. They can then make their own olive oil with oil making machines at a low price - we seem to think it’s a win win situation! As we adore the Italian culture, we decided to get involved with this year’s October olive picking! We learnt the process from preparing the olive harvesting equipment, picking the olives, removing the leaves from what we picked, getting the olives into the crates, taking it to the oil making factory, seeing the process there and finally trying the fresh olive oil that we picked (drizzled over freshly baked Italian bread - yum!). It was a wonderful experience not only to harvest and make olive oil but to get to know locals and make some friends. At La Torre as well as our vineyards we have 150 olive trees, now that we have the knowledge and experience of what we need to harvest olives and where to make the oil at a reasonable price, we will definitely be picking our olives for the next season, to use with our food for our guests as well as a produce for the guest to bring home.
The history of olive oil
Olive oil has been produced throughout history, the first evidence of its use is backdated to 4000 BC, in India, Palestine, Syria and Armenia! The divine olive oil had many uses during this era such as a lotion to treat skin, taken as a medicine and to power lamps. However, the areas in which the olives were cultivated was considered to be inadequate from a climatic perspective, the olive farmers would have had to migrate their cultivation to another type of climate for optimum growth and for better olives.
The expansion of olive cultivation to the Roman Empire was introduced by the Greeks and Babylonians in 2500 BC. The Babylonian law of Hammurabi standardised the trade and production of olive oil whereas the Greeks brought olive trees into the Mediterranean, an excellent climate for olives to flourish. The Romans spread the trees throughout their Empire to create an endless supply of olives and to eventually produce it’s oil, consequently improving the cultivation. You may be wondering, what happened to the olive business when the Roman Empire came to an end? In fact, the farming of olive trees also decreased, for many years they only survived in a couple of territories.
Although, the work was not over yet as during the Middle Ages the most nutritional parts of land were restored for the cultivation of olive trees and to generate ordinary cereals used to produce flour as well as other basic products, by this time, agriculture for food was saved from abandonment. In 1400, Italy was named the greatest producer of olive oil worldwide! By the 18th century, the olive oil industry bloomed, as the oil began to be classified according to its geographical origin, Italian olive oil was known as a product of excellence, not only within Europe, but America, Greece and the Middle East. Even though the supply and demand of olive oil was high, during the 1900s economic boom, rich animal fats became a cheaper option and many people consumed other products such as butter rather than oil.
The legacy of Italian olive oil still remains today due to popular Mediterranean cuisines and holds its place as one of the most exported Italian product across several nations.
The benefits of olives and its oil
Whilst researching olives and its oil, we found that it is filled with antioxidants, helping to reduce inflammation (acting like ibuprofen but natural) and the chance of getting chronic illnesses such as cancer or heart disease. The pulp of the olive itself has proved to augment the levels of glutathione in the blood, one of the most effective antioxidants in our bodies. If our bodies generate too much oxidative stress and have an overload of chronic inflammation, the risk of cell cancer may develop. With olives providing the body with rich antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, the chance of our cells developing cancer is lowered - we find it so fascinating how much natural foods can help our bodies.
Furthermore, it has been found that high cholesterol levels may be managed by the oleic acid in olives. They are a monounsaturated fat like avocados which heightens good cholesterol in our bodies, consequently improving heart health and lowering the risk of heart disease. Being a monounsaturated fat, olives can also reduce our appetites by slowing down the process of digestion, making you feel fuller for longer!
Another benefit from eating olives is that they can lead to weight loss. We found that olives have a ‘negative calorie load’ (around 7 calories) meaning that our bodies burn more calories digesting an olive that you gain eating one - we need to eat more olives! Moreover, the likelihood of getting osteoporosis in Mediterranean countries is less than those around the world, animal studies have shown that a few of the plant compounds located in olives and its oil lessen the risk of bone loss!
They also consist of polyphenols, a natural chemical that helps to decrease oxidative stress in the brain, therefore aiding a longer memory. Don’t forget that! Studies have also shown that this substance can remove the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques inside our brains, which may prevent Alzheimer’s, deeper research still needs to be done so we cannot claim any medical statements.
Extra virgin olive oil has proven to increase hair growth by massaging it into the scalp, this helps to hinder dandruff in its tracks which is a main cause for hair loss. Thereby, stimulating the growth of thicker hair by increasing blood flow to the hair follicles, making the roots and ends a lot stronger.
Lastly, as olive oil is rich in antioxidants it is beneficial for smoother and healthier skin. The squalene in the olive helps to fight off bacteria from the skin, leaving our skin hydrated and well moisturised, this method was used throughout history but as skincare products have developed, many uof the natural ways to better our skin have been forgotten about. Would you try this?
Our experience olive picking & the process
This year our friend Lydia invited us to spend a day olive picking with her and a few friends, the weather was still sunny in October which made the day better, luckily there was slight wind so we weren't boiling under the hot sun picking olives for hours! We drove to San Vivaldo, which is part of the Commune of Montaione in Tuscany, 20 minutes by car, where we spent most of our day from the morning just before sunset - overlooking the stunning rolling hills of Volterra and absorbing the natural beauty of Tuscany!
The first step to olive picking is cleaning up the area of olive trees, whether that be cutting the grass or removing thorns, however, where we went to pick olives, the area had already been cleaned - that meant it was just us and the long rows of olive trees! We then helped to lay out the nets around the tree we were picking to catch the olives, they are huge and cover a lot of the ground from the base of the tree to beyond the branches, maximising the amount of olives we collected. As you can see in the picture above, a dog from a nearby neighbour came and started playing with the nets! She was adorable, but we quickly got her distracted by throwing a branch, better a dog rather than a wild boar - who would also eat all the olives!
Now to the actual picking, there are a few different ways of picking the olives, a popular way is to use an ‘abbattitore di olive’ meaning olive blaster which is the long tool in the picture above, it opens its rake like head and closes it very fast on repeat, in turn shaking the branch and pulling olives off the tree. The electrical rake is tall and can be extended so it’s mainly used to get the olives located higher up in the tree, although the rake picks off a lot of olives after a while it becomes quite heavy to hold so we took it in turns to use the tool. The two black dots floating in the sky in the picture above are olives flying off of the tree! The blaster is connected to a battery so it is powered electrically, causing less harm to the environment and trees. Before the battery run olive blaster, there were similar tools powered by petrol, causing harm to the trees and environment around due to the fumes it would produce, with Italy becoming more eco-friendly by the day so are its methods of agriculture.
Aside from the olive blaster, we were each given a small hand rake, surprisingly we were able to pull off many olives with just a tug of the branch. Some trees that had many branches, one of us would saw off the branches with the most olives and we would continue to hand rake the olives off of the branches but from the floor, which was more relaxing. We would sit on the nets either hand picking or hand raking the olives off of its branch, listen to the magical birds chirping, stare into the beautiful Tuscan ambience and absorb the clean air. Time passed by so quickly whilst olive picking, watching the heaps of olives build up on the nets was so satisfying. Angus couldn’t resist trying a fresh olive but said it was really bitter - better to leave it to the Italians to marinate and spice the olives!
Once the tree was empty with all olives on the nets, we would gather all the olives together and slowly remove most of the leaves and twigs that had fallen with the olives, this took some time but was calming as we would roll our hands across the olives raking out the rest. After most of the leaves and twigs had been removed, we filled the crates we had with the olives we collected, each crate weighing around 20kg! Picking all the olives off of one tree gave us 2-3 crates of olives, we picked 5 trees all together - we were amazed to find out that it takes 5-6kg of olives to make one litre of olive oil! That is most certainly hardwork paid off - we ended up with so much oil!
We worked until the sun came down, the picture doesn't give justice to just how beautiful Tuscany is. We called it a day and arranged to return in the morning to go with Lydia to make the oil in Castelfalfi, Montaione.
To make the olive oil we went to Tenuta Di Castelfalfi the next day, they also produce wine and have a hotel/spa but let’s stick to the olive oil for now! To start the process, we emptied the crates of olives that we had into one massive crate which was then weighed and emptied into the first step of the conveyor belt.
Firstly, the olives were washed and the remaining leaves were removed. They then got crushed where the pip is separated from the fruit itself and only the olive is mixed into a paste. Once the paste is ready, it is split where some stays as a paste to be used in sauces and the majority continues the conveyor belt to be finely squeezed and pressed into oil.
The oil drips out one drop at a time, overall taking around 2 hours to completely convert one big crate of olives into olive oil. With the olive seed, they take a separate route to be grinded down in the machine below where they become small stones. These small stones are then used to treat soil and add nutrition to the soil, therefore growing better crops, fruits and vegetables. We love the idea that nothing is wasted during the process of making olive oil!
The final result of our olive oil was delicious with a deep emerald green colour. We drizzled our fresh olive oil over warm baked Italian bread and bruschetta, although the oil had a spicy hint to it, our tastebuds most definitely approved with its buttery finish. Extra virgin olive oil freshly made has such a big difference of taste from shop bought ones. This was an experience we will not forget and we wish to hold onto this tradition for all our years to come in Italy!
