Story of EVOO

[Bigjim68]

Just received a bottle of this years pressing of a small farm EVOO in Tuscany.
This is like no other olive oil I have ever seen. Along with the bottle, also documented the harvest from the picking to the eating. Pictures follow


This is backlit, and the bottle is around an inch thick. Almost like a syrup. The sausage in the foreground is a hard wild boar sausage. Also from Tuscany

Second photo is the fields, the trees are grown on a terraced hillside

Third photo at that the middle of October, Atillo, who manages the farm decided that the picking would start October 25.

Fourth photo, the olives are ripe picking commences.

Fifth, olives go to the press. The press is around 2 km from the farm, and is a separate business.

The stones were used until 2000. The new machine and mill worker. All mechanize now.

Next, each farmers olives are kept separate and loaded into the hopper

 

[taxlady]

Kewl. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bigjim68]

EVOO part 2

Took too long to edit after I hit the wrong key. See if this works. The rest of the story:

The business end. freshly pressed oil. The trees yielded 1306 kilos of olives and 188 kilos oil, a high yield at 14.4%

The important first taste. That's Jackie, the farm owner

Next, my brother and Atillo, the farmer, 20 kilo containers

My brother and Atillo. The oil is stored under Jackie's 400 year old farmhome.

Settling up, Atillo manages the farm for a percentage.

Bro says that the best way to enjoy this oil is on peasant bread toasted on the woodstove and rubbed with garlic and pepper. I'm thinking the freshest possible salad greens, good balsamic vinegar, and perhaps thin slices of Oregon truffles. Had this at a truffle dinner in Eugene, Ore a few years back. Absolutely delicious.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Great pics Big J, my brother has a house near Arezzo, we nip over when we are at our place in Hvar, my wifes family in Croatia grow olives on Hvar and Drnis 90% is sold to the factory the rest is hand pressed, in this file there is a pic of the wooden press and some pics of our sea househttp://photobucket.com/bolashvar.
Tuscan home cooking is fantastic, I to love truffles, I get them from Istria.
Next time you get to Tuscany take the Snav from Pescara to Hvar I think you will like it.

 

[mollyanne]

BigJim, I love this EVOO story...read it a few times, studied the pics, was fascinated by it all.....but what I really want to talk about is Atillo

 

[ChefJune]

Just received a bottle of this years pressing of a small farm EVOO in Tuscany.
This is like no other olive oil I have ever seen. Along with the bottle, also documented the harvest from the picking to the eating. Pictures follow


This is backlit, and the bottle is around an inch thick. Almost like a syrup. The sausage in the foreground is a hard wild boar sausage. Also from Tuscany

Second photo is the fields, the trees are grown on a terraced hillside

Third photo at that the middle of October, Atillo, who manages the farm decided that the picking would start October 25.

Fourth photo, the olives are ripe picking commences.

Fifth, olives go to the press. The press is around 2 km from the farm, and is a separate business.

The stones were used until 2000. The new machine and mill worker. All mechanize now.

Next, each farmers olives are kept separate and loaded into the hopper

WOW! If this is your first time tasting newly pressed olive oil, you now know what a difference freshness makes! Please DON'T cook with that oil. Use it to drizzle on simply broiled fish, or steamed veggies. Of course, it will enhance a Caprese Salad made with perfectly ripe tomatoes, but by the time you get those tomatoes, the olive oil will not be quite as fabulous as it is this minute.

Freshly pressed olive oil is a lot more expensive than the stuff that's sold in even the fanciest specialty stores. If you are lucky enough to get to watch the olives being pressed, that is really a neat experience.

 

[Bigjim68]

WOW! If this is your first time tasting newly pressed olive oil, you now know what a difference freshness makes! Please DON'T cook with that oil. Use it to drizzle on simply broiled fish, or steamed veggies. Of course, it will enhance a Caprese Salad made with perfectly ripe tomatoes, but by the time you get those tomatoes, the olive oil will not be quite as fabulous as it is this minute.

Freshly pressed olive oil is a lot more expensive than the stuff that's sold in even the fanciest specialty stores. If you are lucky enough to get to watch the olives being pressed, that is really a neat experience.

I wouldn't dream of cooking with this oil. It is going on salads bread, some on meats, etc. I do wish I had some good tomatoes and basil, not meant to be.
I had a planned go over while they were there, but didn't make it. Now I wish I had. My brother was a newspaper worker for years and won a few awards for his photo journalism. His stories of this trip are interesting. Set up a web site for a journal.

As for price, the wholesale bulk price for this year was around $15/liter

 

[CharlieD]

Wow, I would love a bottle of oil like that. Yum.

 

[jennyema]

Cool! Thanks for sharing