We headed out to the “farm” the other day to pick some tomatoes. I use the term “farm” loosely because it’s just our piece of land outside of town where we have some fruit and olive trees and where we have our vegetable garden.
The plans are to put in a more extensive garden and even add some animals. That can’t happen until we get the road fixed – but that’s another story for another day.
We’re hoping for a good batch of olive oil this year. The trees are dripping with olives for the first time in a couple of years.
Last year the oil turned out “spicy”. It actually burns a little in the back of your throat if you eat it raw – on a salad or on bread. I’m wondering if it had anything to do with the drought last year. We’ll see if it turns out better in a few months when we harvest the olives and take them to the frantoio.
Luigi just likes to explore.
We also have three varieties of fig trees on the property. Two trees have large brown figs, one has very small, almost black ones that are really sweet, and another one has small greenish-white ones. A few of them are starting to ripen, so what could be better than eating them fresh off the tree?
Of course, they were very messy, but Luigi thought it was worth it.
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I didn’t know you had this. It sounds great, although I am not sure about animals with no one to protect them. Luigi has the right idea. Let others do the work while you suck up the good.
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Mary Reply:
August 25th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
We’d have to do some fencing if we want to put animals in. Unfortunately, the predators we need to protect them from the most are the two-legged variety.
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Mmmm. Figs. I actually don’t live too far away from you, in Naples. I bought some fresh olive oil last year from friends in Caserta and always wondered why the bottom of the bottle had residue. (When I buy olive oil in a store, it doesn’t have that.)
Saluti!
Barbara
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Mary Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hi Barbara! Fresh olive oil always has sediment in the bottom. Just don’t swirl the bottle to mix it back in. I think they strain the commercial stuff more, but don’t quote me on that. Fresh olive oil is fantastic though, isn’t it?
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Barbara Reply:
August 30th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Thanks Mary! I am embarrassed to say that I still can’t tell the difference between olive oils. Fresh or bought at the grocery store, as long as it’s extra virgin it tastes the same to me. What am I missing? Is there some kind of “olive oil taste test” I can do at home to start sensing the difference?
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Mary Reply:
August 31st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I don’t know about any taste tests Barbara although I can tell the difference in flavor. Maybe you could pull out the fresh stuff and the store bought stuff and do a comparison by putting each type on a slice of bread and tasting. That might help.
Great pictures especially of Luigi enjoying the figs! Nice piece of land, good luck with it.
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Mary Reply:
August 26th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Thanks Gil. We love our little hobby but right now we can’t do too much with it.
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What a cutey Luigi is – and a fig-eater. Odd about the oil being bitter last year where you are. We had a banner year in Liguria, and it was sweet, but a friend brought us a huge tin from Terni, and it had that bite you write about. This year we have few olives, probably not enough to pick. Glad you had a good stay-cation…
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Mary Reply:
August 31st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Thanks Fern. We weren’t the only one with the bite to our olive oil. It seems to have been pretty common last year. Some people were blaming it on the frantoio, but I don’t believe that’s the case at all. It’s too widespread. The oil is still good to eat, it’s just got that little bite to it that you know shouldn’t be there.
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Our oil was very spicy last year as well. I’m curious about how it will be this year. We have fewer olives this time, though, so I’m not sure we’ll harvesting them.
I love the pictures of Luigi with the fig!
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