November
'10
Bringing
in our first olives
At last, after all the hard work we went about collecting our
first crop of olives. The olives were only just ripening, but we
wanted to ensure we got an early crop using nets, in case high winds
blew all the olives to the ground. In future years we will be collecting
them from the ground with a spiked rollers.
With
nets laid out under the trees, PG & I layed into the trees in
front of the almacen, with slim pickings. It was drizzling, with
a cold gusty wind blowing. It was very hard work and quite depressing.
We got about 25-30 kilos in one mornings picking. At this rate we
were never going to collect the 100 kilo's we thought was the minimum
amount the cooperativa processed.
The
next couple of days were slow, but we were getting quality olives.
On the third day I went down to the Cooperativa Sol Debre to book
a time for our olives to be processed, when they said "It's
a 400 kilo minimum" Eek. "Gulp" I said, "I'll
be back in a couple of days for an appointment".
PG
& I never thought that we could manage to collect them quickly
enough, as we didn't want the first days collections to deteriorate
before we had all 400 kilos ready. Then we hit one terrace where
the trees were much heavier with olives, including one tree which
produced about 25-35 kilos on its own. In the end, we got what we
needed and weighed in 436 kilos of olives Because they were young
and juicy we only got about 15% rendition to oil, giving 76 lites
of extra virgin olive oil with a acidity of 0.4% (that is half the
acidity allowable in Extra Virgin oil).
It
is lovely. Drizzled on bread, salad, anything. A fruity, green,
appley flavour with a smooth creamy texture on the tongue. Village
experts tell us that it tastes most of the "Morut/Moruda"
variety, and that it is a good quality oil.
On
a positive side one of the farmers was telling us it is possible
ot get up to 200 kilos of olives per tree for old trees. Certainly
we should be able to get 40 kilos per tree in the next year or so,
once we have them all properly pruned. That would give us around
1,500-2,000 litres of oil, which is a better financial proposition.
Santa
Barbara -Fira d'Oli
We had a quick look round the Sanata Barbara fira d'Oli this month.
Some nice looking food and some well dressed up horses were on display.
Lots of agricultural machinery including a Kubota tractor stand.
What
was interesting was the oil cooperative which produces a small amount
of olive oil bottled by variety. The difference between the varieties
was astounding, with the morut oil being much greener and stronger
flavoured than say a sevilliana oil.
No.11,
Av. Catalunya
The site has been surveyed and we are waiting for some plans from
our architect based on the survey & the suggestions we gave
him. Hopefully we will have something we can show to the builders
before Christmas.
October
2010
December 2010
PB
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