Olives

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Trooperman
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Olives

Postby Trooperman » Mon Oct 07, 2013 1:36 pm

Was speaking with a neighbour on Sunday about Olives. The neighbour happens to grow vines and make wine, but also has just a few olive trees from which he makes the marinated type for nibbling whilst imbibing his excellent red Ronda wine. He explained and then showed me there were two different types of olive on his trees - a rounded fruit and a slightly elongated and pointed olive - and the round one is the one that he uses for the "pickled" aceitunas, whilst the pointed ones were the variety from which oil is extracted. The different shapes were on the same tree! The former were being picked now whilst the latter (oil ones) would normally be picked in December - not that he bothers with those.

Well! I never knew that! So I intend to go and pick my few rounded ones now and start the process of soaking them in brine. Did anyone else here know there were potentially two different types on the same tree?...and harvested at different times?
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Mariacristina
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Re: Olives

Postby Mariacristina » Wed Oct 09, 2013 9:14 am

When I first moved here I thought there were only two types of olives - green ones and black ones. I've learned a bit more since then, especially during the hours that I have spent kneeling on stony ground helping my neighbours pick their family olives. My job usually involves scrabbling about to pick up the olives that have dropped before the nets go down and most of the time on steep slopes so I am hanging on by my toenails.

It seems that there are hundreds of varieties of olives, all with advantages and disadvantages from the commercial point of view and all with slightly different flavours. Several of my neighbours graft different varieties onto the same tree.

Some are real connoisseurs of oil and talk about flavours in the way that wine buffs talk about wine - but less pretentiously. It really is a fascinating subject if you start to take an interest. There are plenty of books to read but, as always, asking the neighbours is the best way to learn.

Despite the blue bruised knees, when I am crawling around picking up olives I feel a sense of being a very insignificant link in a very long chain of women who have done the same thing in the same place for generations before me and who will be doing the same thing long after I have gone. But mostly I am thinking that I am getting too damned old for this!

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Trooperman
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Re: Olives

Postby Trooperman » Wed Oct 09, 2013 10:26 am

Thanks Mariacristina. It seems I've got a steep learning curve ahead! But do you know if now is the time to collect/harvest the ones for pickling?

If you come from Cordoba province you may well be in the areas where there are horizon to horizon, regimented groves of the fruits and probably most go for oil (I've had some delicious stuff from Priego de Cordoba - and pressed and bottled on the farm). Down here and especially in our valley, where the slopes are steep, most olive groves are small and family tended and it's all done in December which is why I'm querying the advice given to my friend to pick now. :?
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Gasman
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Re: Olives

Postby Gasman » Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:42 pm

Hi Trouperman
We have been taking advice from our neighbours about our olives and are getting to know more about the subject as the years pass :angel: I would suggest that you have a tree which has been grafted so that it now produces two different types in different parts of the tree - we too have round fat olives, and slightly smaller but still big enough pointy ones - both these varieties are highly prized as pickling types. (The pointy ones are much like the French Luques of Provençal fame :thumbup: ) The olives favoured for pressing for oil are usually smaller as in fact most of the oil comes from the nut inside, rather than the flesh! :crazy:
As to picking what when - for pickling, use green olives, and you can tell they are getting ready when they develop a shine on the skin, and some on the tree are getting a purple tinge - if they are not all ready at the same time, then pick by hand the first ones, and wait a few weeks for the rest to get ready. You need to look up the various ways of preparing for the pickling - slit, smash, soak, etc :idea:
For oil - you can use any variety but small is best - we have far too many pickled ones for our use, so we tend to do our posh ones for oil!! - the important thing is that they must be RIPE, so as black as they can be without falling off the tree. We again usually do two picks, depending on the ripening, load them into tubs and put in wheelbarrow, to take them next door to the neighbours hand pressing machine - wonderful greeny-gold oil is produced and gives us a year's supply :clap:

olive
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Re: Olives

Postby olive » Wed Oct 09, 2013 2:03 pm

Yes, there is more to the humble olive than most people appreciate.

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gerryh
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Re: Olives

Postby gerryh » Wed Oct 09, 2013 2:06 pm

olive wrote:Yes, there is more to the humble olive than most people appreciate.
Are you humble? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
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Mariacristina
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Re: Olives

Postby Mariacristina » Thu Oct 10, 2013 11:19 am

The hills on the southern slopes of the Sierra Subbetica are plaited with olives and, dependant on the weather, the serious olive harvest starts in late November and can go on until March. That is when the olives have ripened to that wonderful gleaming purply-black and will give their maximum yield of oil. Olives to be cured for eating are usually collected in October, but it will depend very much on your local varieties and local conditions.

Almost every housewife will think that her method of curing is the best. The one thing that they all seem to agree on is that you cannot soak them in tap water; you must use water from your local spring.

Neighbours are the best source of information - they have experience and local know-how and they like being asked for advice. It's a win-win situation.

The first lot I tried to cure ended up looking and tasting like mud. I'm getting better at it now.

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Terry Tibbs
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Re: Olives

Postby Terry Tibbs » Sun Oct 13, 2013 11:21 am

What an interesting thread; I always enjoy reading Mariacristina's posts and I never knew about the grafting of olive trees. It reminds me of the beautiful cherry tree we used to have in our house in London - one side produced white blossom, the other side pink. Always made me thing of strawberries and cream.

At our current location (in deepest Asia), trying to get hold of decent olives for eating is very problematic. Even the tinned ones don't taste the same (maybe it's the time they spend in hot shipping containers that does them in). On a couple of occasions over the years, my 'better half' discovered Torcaoliva olive oil at the supermarket here - a source of great joy as it comes from her family's home town of Antequera. Sadly the supplies weren't around for long on each occasion, then it was back to the standard 'industrial' stuff. However, with a bit of luck, before too long we'll be in Andalucia and able to sample the fruits of the wonderful local olivos more readily. I can't wait, as a G&T without some decent aceitunas as an accompaniment just isn't the same.


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