Check more on my Twitter or Olea Mediterranea Facebook page
Soon I will give you more details about this harvest.
08 November, 2015
Last updates from my beautiful olive grove in Southern Italy
Some pictures I took last week of the new "very good" harvest.
Check more on my Twitter or Olea Mediterranea Facebook page
Soon I will give you more details about this harvest.
Check more on my Twitter or Olea Mediterranea Facebook page
Soon I will give you more details about this harvest.
30 September, 2015
From Santorini to your table: domatokeftedes
Once upon a time, in a quiet summer night Santorini, I've tried for the first times "domatokeftedes". I was astonished by this simple but rich taste of this easy to make, poor, traditional Greek recipe.
This is my favourite version and I would like to share with you:
300 gr of stale bread
150 gr of tomatoes
a tea spoon of flour
half of a red big onion
a tea spoon of cumin
one table spoon of oregano
salt and pepper to taste
extra-virgin olive oil
Slice the tomatoes and let them drain for about 1 hour. Then wet the stale bread under running water and let it stand.
In the meanwhile chop finely the onion and mix it in a big bowl with tomatoes, the bread, the flour, add cumin, salt, pepper and oregano. Divide the paste in small pieces
Fry it in a frying pot till domatokeftedes turn to brown, dry them and serve hot or cold.
This is my favourite version and I would like to share with you:
300 gr of stale bread
150 gr of tomatoes
a tea spoon of flour
half of a red big onion
a tea spoon of cumin
one table spoon of oregano
salt and pepper to taste
extra-virgin olive oil
Slice the tomatoes and let them drain for about 1 hour. Then wet the stale bread under running water and let it stand.
In the meanwhile chop finely the onion and mix it in a big bowl with tomatoes, the bread, the flour, add cumin, salt, pepper and oregano. Divide the paste in small pieces
Fry it in a frying pot till domatokeftedes turn to brown, dry them and serve hot or cold.
05 September, 2015
Turkey's outlook before 2015-2016 harvest
Turkey produced 190 tons of olive oil during 2014/2015 season, ranking between the biggest producer countries. The Near Eastern country hasn't yet reached the peak of the expected production, while the expectation for 2015-2016 are high, but it can easily afford to face the internal request of a country where consumption hardly goes beyond 2kg per capita. The price growth surely doesn't helped to increase the number of consumers.
The last one was one of the worst harvest in the history, the olive oil drought and the stock drain caused an unpredictable growth of the price of oil in the global market. Turkey wasn't an exception, as the price of extra-virgin olive oil staying still steady at 17 TL, according to the data from Edremit Ticaret Borsa. With the prices' rise the appetite for speculation increased in the country and starting from last February Turkey has imported around 3.000 ton of olive oil, signately from Tunisia, following the report of Marmarabirlik Chairman during an official meeting at the Ministry of Economy, where they told the situation of the olive and olive oil sector in Turkey.
The last one was one of the worst harvest in the history, the olive oil drought and the stock drain caused an unpredictable growth of the price of oil in the global market. Turkey wasn't an exception, as the price of extra-virgin olive oil staying still steady at 17 TL, according to the data from Edremit Ticaret Borsa. With the prices' rise the appetite for speculation increased in the country and starting from last February Turkey has imported around 3.000 ton of olive oil, signately from Tunisia, following the report of Marmarabirlik Chairman during an official meeting at the Ministry of Economy, where they told the situation of the olive and olive oil sector in Turkey.
Recurring to the import is not strategically congruous with the policy of one of the key players in the sector. Turkey is betting since some years on olive cultivation and has been recently focusing towards new markets, such as India. Turkey has a surface of about 850.000 hectars of olive plantations and is looking after to enhance its potential in the sector not only internally but also abroad. Currently Turkish market share on international markets still remains not significant, according to Kadri Gündeş, chief of Olive and Olive Oil promotion Comitee. Turkey is exporting mainly to Saudi Arabia, USA and Japan but export quote decreased last season.
Another big challenge for Turkish insitutions is the growth internal consumption, promoting the healthy qualities of the golden product to an audience that traditionally is not used to use olive oil, being the Turkish cuisine, especially the so-colled Anatolian, still strongly linked to the ancestral tradition of the use of animal fats in the preparation of the courses.
 |
| Meze, a classic of Aegean cuisine |
The rise of olive oil import could be considered as a speculative move made by traders in this special conditions. Politicians should be hard in discouraging this behaviour and to stregthen the rules to enforce the local production. Turkey has the ambitious goal to reach 650.000 tons of olive oil production in 2023, the year of 100 year after the foundation of the Turkish Republic and to confirm the motto of the hero who founded it, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who affirmed: "The economy of the nation is based on the agriculture."
Sources:
28 June, 2015
Medina. A trip to the heart of Mediterranean agriculture
A young French couple seven months travel through the Mediterranean to learn new and traditional
agricultural techniques by working and living close to organic growers. For a
future quality food production and eco-tourism in Corsica.
Suddenly, while I was searching sources for my last article about
Corsica Olive Oil, my attention was caught by the story of Johann and
Marine from Ajaccio who decided, last November, to pack their baggage and to
travel around the Mediterranean for seven months.
Johann and Marine joined the WWOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, system to travel. They were hosted by organic growers who opened the door of their farms and shared with them traditional and modern techniques of cultivation.
When olive harvest time came, they found themselves in Andalusia and collected olives from the trees, they brought harvested olives to local mill and tasted the fresh extracted delicious oil. A visit in Pollença region, in Balearic Islands, was also the occasion to better know the issues olive growers experience in this land, living from tourism revenues but that proudly produces a Denomination of Origin labeled olive oil. The young couple heard about the fears of local olive farmers , afraid of Xylella Fastidiosa , this terrible bacteria that is destroying hectares of olive groves in Apulia and now represents a real threat for all Mediterranean lands planted with olive trees.
To follow the trip of this young couple, look you can check their updates and watch their pictures and videos over their Facebook page or follow their trip itinerary on http://ontheroad.travelmap.
Medina. Agritourisme en Méditerranée
What
pushed them on the road is the aim to explore different cultures and to
approach different agricultural practices, working and learning from a
production and a commercial perspective, to enrich their knowledge and to make
a good use of it after their return back home to develop the production
of quality food and to boost the green tourism in their home land.
“Medina”, a term that means city in Arabic but is used with the meaning of “old city” in Maghreb area, is the title they choose for their adventure. They consider all the Mediterranean basin as a unique 2,5 million square kilometers Medina where one can find artisans, farmers, producers proposing their products, selected by quality and origin.
Their trip touched France, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Albania and so on to reach Italy and then again Corsica. They travelled slowly from one place to another, to one country to another, they took ferries, buses, lifts and used airplane only to cover big distances.
“Medina”, a term that means city in Arabic but is used with the meaning of “old city” in Maghreb area, is the title they choose for their adventure. They consider all the Mediterranean basin as a unique 2,5 million square kilometers Medina where one can find artisans, farmers, producers proposing their products, selected by quality and origin.
Their trip touched France, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Albania and so on to reach Italy and then again Corsica. They travelled slowly from one place to another, to one country to another, they took ferries, buses, lifts and used airplane only to cover big distances.
Johann and Marine joined the WWOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, system to travel. They were hosted by organic growers who opened the door of their farms and shared with them traditional and modern techniques of cultivation.
When olive harvest time came, they found themselves in Andalusia and collected olives from the trees, they brought harvested olives to local mill and tasted the fresh extracted delicious oil. A visit in Pollença region, in Balearic Islands, was also the occasion to better know the issues olive growers experience in this land, living from tourism revenues but that proudly produces a Denomination of Origin labeled olive oil. The young couple heard about the fears of local olive farmers , afraid of Xylella Fastidiosa , this terrible bacteria that is destroying hectares of olive groves in Apulia and now represents a real threat for all Mediterranean lands planted with olive trees.
To follow the trip of this young couple, look you can check their updates and watch their pictures and videos over their Facebook page or follow their trip itinerary on http://ontheroad.travelmap.
18 June, 2015
A new country producer of olive oil: Armenia
Armenia entered the list of 47 countries producing olive oil last year, but probably the history of olive tree in Armenian land isn’t so recent, as this small country is often considered as one of the places of origin of olive tree.
Currently the use of olive oil is not so common for Armenians but the great number of people of Middle eastern origin living there, coming especially from Syria recently because of the ongoing conflicts, made olive oil consumption quite wider in the Near-Asian country. Nowadays almost the totality of olives and olive oil for internal consumption is imported, but in Meghri district, close to the Iranian border several trials were attempted by few pioneers.
For long years none believed that olive tree could survive the low temperatures of Armenian winters and give fruits. But Karo Karapetyan didn’t agree with this opinion and went on planting 7ha of olive groves. In 2003 he planted more than 7.000 Ascolana and Sevillano variety trees. He was very patient and, despite the loss of numerous trees caused by the chill of Armenian winter, temperatures could reach -30° C, and by the hail, he finally succeeded in making his first harvest in 2010. Each tree is reported to have a yield of about 20-30 kg of olives. This brave farmer found not easy to market his products initially but, shortly after, he started packing and selling his olives.
This farmer is strongly convinced that olive is an adaptable tree and for this reason he believes it could grow up and give fruits even in Armenia. Probably this Southern area of the country is a suitable comfort-zone for olive growing but some luck and not very cold winters are essentials to achieve a good harvest.
The enthusiasm of this man and his ability to go through difficulties is a beautiful signal of the laboriousness and willingness of people of this country and maybe a signal of hope for a future as a producer of olive oil for Armenia.
Sources
Asbarez- http://asbarez.com/110702/the-olive-tree-and-armenia/
Yerkir Media- http://www.yerkirmedia.am/?act=news&lan=en&id=8081
For long years none believed that olive tree could survive the low temperatures of Armenian winters and give fruits. But Karo Karapetyan didn’t agree with this opinion and went on planting 7ha of olive groves. In 2003 he planted more than 7.000 Ascolana and Sevillano variety trees. He was very patient and, despite the loss of numerous trees caused by the chill of Armenian winter, temperatures could reach -30° C, and by the hail, he finally succeeded in making his first harvest in 2010. Each tree is reported to have a yield of about 20-30 kg of olives. This brave farmer found not easy to market his products initially but, shortly after, he started packing and selling his olives.
This farmer is strongly convinced that olive is an adaptable tree and for this reason he believes it could grow up and give fruits even in Armenia. Probably this Southern area of the country is a suitable comfort-zone for olive growing but some luck and not very cold winters are essentials to achieve a good harvest.
The enthusiasm of this man and his ability to go through difficulties is a beautiful signal of the laboriousness and willingness of people of this country and maybe a signal of hope for a future as a producer of olive oil for Armenia.
Sources
Asbarez- http://asbarez.com/110702/the-olive-tree-and-armenia/
Yerkir Media- http://www.yerkirmedia.am/?act=news&lan=en&id=8081
14 March, 2015
Call it "Fef i cicuer" or "Broad beans and chicory". A real Southern Italian taste for olive oil lovers
In Puglia and Basilicata, at night, in winter time, when the doors are closed families approach to the chimney smelling the fragrance coming from the cooking pot near the fire. What's inside?
Obviously "Fef i cicuer". One of the most delicious winter recipes I've ever tasted.
But let's see how to make it, using modern methods, of course
Start by soaking for one night at least beans in cold water
Then drain it
Obviously "Fef i cicuer". One of the most delicious winter recipes I've ever tasted.
 |
| Fef i cicuer |
But let's see how to make it, using modern methods, of course
Ingredients (for two persons):
- 200 gr of dried broad beans
- 600 gr of chicory (remove the damaged and not soft parts)
- Garlic
- Extra Virgin olive oil (Coratina if available)
- Salt
Start by soaking for one night at least beans in cold water
 |
And boil till the "fave" become like a rough paste. Remember to mix, pressing softly the beans with a wooden spoon.
In the meanwhile, take the chicory after having selected before only fresh and soft leaves and then boil for about fifteen minutes
This step is not included in original recipe but I like to put in the frying pan the vegetables, after having boiled and drained them and then to cook chicory with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, chili and garlic. Just five minutes are enough.
Chicory will be like this (sorry for the quality of the picutre but it was hot)
In the meanwhile, your "fave" should be ready
Remember to "dress" the fave with a suitable Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
My suggestion is a Coratina variety EVOO from Apulia.
I suggest to serve it with a good glass of Aglianico del Vulture or Grottino,
a strong red wines with a rich taste from Basilicata.
Buon appetito!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)