Olives
This is not our first Olive harvest but the first we have managed ourselves.
This year we set to work collecting the olives, a variety from the ten or so trees on our smallholding here in the quiet rural region of Molise tucked away in the south of Italy.
Proud to have gathered enough to make some oil we took the bags up to the local OLEARIO
.. The oil producing plant.
A small enterprise run by the Petrillo family it sits on the hillside just above the village of Civitacampomarano. A tiny village famous for its amazing castle and an incredibly interesting array of wall murals ( covered in another blog.)
Back to making oil.
It is really quite a simple but rather labour intensive process if you include the time it takes to pick them.
Actually making the oil took just over an hour, although this depends of course on the quantity of olives being pressed.
We only had 105 kilos but they produced 22 litres of pure unadulterated oil.
I was really impressed to see how much care they take to ensure that each person has their own oil, even if like us the quantity is small.
It is extremely rewarding to see the green and golden liquid pour into a bright shining can, and taste the fruits of ones own labours.
A big thank you to the PETRILLO family for giving us our first taste of L'Abraccio Del Tratturo Virgin Olive Oil.
We do not produce enough yet to consider marketing it but hope even in a small way we can help this tiny corner of Molise survive and prosper..
They like so many deserve it