‘This is not our world with trees in it.
It’s a world of trees, where humans have just arrived.’
Richard Powers
from book-’overstory
THE OLIVES
We are surrounded by olive trees on Monte Preti . The entire valley surrounding us is one large olive grove, a lot of it is abandoned. The olive tree is a deeply fascinating tree, incredibly resilient, undemanding and generous. In winter, it is evergreen, and in the wind, the silvery undersides of the leaves can make the trees look like large schools of fish undulating down the mountain. They are old; it is almost their essence to be old, and farmers have planted, tended and pruned them for generations. Some of the trees we care for are more than 700 years old; they have seen it all and have their own thoughts about the tempo of humans. And every year they yield kilos of olives that we turn into Olive Oil di Monte Preti. Imagine, hundreds of years ago someone decided on this recipe - the trees are the ingredients. We have Frantoio, Miniutine and Quarceta olive trees.
Fruit or berry? Olives are both a fruit and a berry, but more precisely, they are a stone fruit. Botanically speaking, they have a hard stone inside surrounded by fruit flesh. However, it is often categorised as a berry in everyday language, especially when you consider its structure as a small, juicy fruit with a single stone.
You who pass by, look at me:
I am the warmth in your house
on cold winter nights
I am the shade you find
when you walk in the August sun
With the juice of my fruit
I am your meal and the light
in your lamp
I am the beam, your friend
in your house, I am the plank
in your table and the bed where you rest
I am the wood in your cradle and
the flower of beauty
I am the sign of peace
You who pass by, look at me!
(Anonymous)
ABOUT THE OIL TEXT
Spogliato - translation ‘to undress’. Why this term? we were discussing when to first taste the pressed olive oil. In the past, many months passed between the pressing of the olives and its consumption. They prefered till the olive oil had undressed itself of the sharp flavour, of its unfiltered ingredients that sink to the bottom. They wanted it to calm down. However, in contemporary times these are all the attributes we search for. We want the sharp kick in the back of the throat that sometimes takes a few seconds to arrive. We want the green bright colour of chlorophyll. We want it all, but we take a pause three days after the pressing to let the olive move in and calm down in its new form.