OLIVES 2021: SOME NICE SURPRISES FROM OUR 10TH HARVEST

- November 21, 2021

Here comes the promised sequel to “Olives 2020: some details of our 9^thHarvest, and more!” that I posted earlier. That story from last year could not have been more different. It started out like this: On Saturday, November 8, 2020, we harvested 2,119 pounds of our olives —a record weight for us—that made 75 liters of the most delicious oil. And now, here’s the story from this year.

Every olive harvest brings a mix of nostalgia and excitement: memories of our first of ten years ago, and also wonder at Mother Nature’s cycles and at what she will give us this time. But this year was especially fraught because we recently lost our neighbor and friend, Loreto, who with his family, used to help us with every aspect of the harvest.

Further, this was a year of low expectations when due to an ill-timed frost, olives were few or nonexistent on most Umbrian trees. Many people decided there were too few olives to bother to harvest, but we decided to go for it.

When it comes to getting to the point, my husband is way better than I am, so I am going to borrow his words which he wrote after a long day of picking, and as we were heading to the mill to get our olives pressed—

To quote Jim:“We did our olive harvest today—a lovely Fall day. It was delayed a week because of rain. We had new helpers—Gigi and his parents and friends, and my sister came to watch.

I love the outfit on one of the workers— Leonardo, whose real job is playing and teaching trombone! What the stylish Italians wear to a harvest! He’s the one in orange and violet. (As for that extra touch of purple at the lower left, that's the gloved finger of photographer Diane, who managed to include that by accident.Oops)

We filled 16 chests which may make a total of only 25 liters of oil. But we are going 50/50 with those who helped, so maybe that will leave only 12ish liters for us. Heading to the mill now!

A FEW HOURS LATER—

RECALCULATE! Actually, we got 22.5 liters for ourselves! At least 10 more than we expected. Just got home and tried it on toasted bread. It was I’ll-have-what-she’s having! delicious!!”

Grazie, James! At this point, all I have added is, “We are happy and grateful.”

But of course there’s more. My Junior Year In France roommate, Karen, asked if we sold our oil. We have never done that. We like to share it, and greatly miss the days when it was possible to load up our hand luggage with it to bring back as gifts. But we have been amazed at how much we actually use ourselves. I just found an article on this subject:

http://www.centrafoods.com/blog/who-in-the-world-consumes-the-most-olive-oil?hs_amp=true

And a quote about the health benefits of olive oil:

Their analysis of long-term data, dating back to 1990, shows that eating more than 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil per day lowers one's risk of cardiovascular disease by 15 percent and the risk of coronary heart disease by 21 percent. (Mar 5, 2020) I like the sound of that.

https://www.healthline.com › half-a-...

How Just Half a Tablespoon of Olive Oil a Day Can Improve Heart Health

I recall being taken aback when many decades ago we visited a French oil mill and were presented with a teaspoon to taste it straight. Shocked at our surprise, the woman said she ate it this way every day. It sounds as if she had the right idea. Btw, she looked great!