Tunisian duty-free quote increase and Italian protest. Much ado for nothing

Last Monday the Trade Comitee of European Parliament backed a proposal of increase by 35.000 tons the duty-free yearly quota of olive oil imports from Tunisia for a two years period, in order to help the full recovery of the economy of a country which is struggling with terrorism, developing the Tunisian olive oil sector, the agricultural main export of the country.

This decision was followed by the harsh criticism of several  Italian producers associations. The Minister of Agriculture Martina highlighted his strong opposition to any further increase of the duty-free quota. On Italian television channels debates about this “scandalous” attack to Made in Italy is now broadcast countinously and the implicit connection between fraud, adulteration and olive oil import from Tunisia is like a base on which the debate is built on.

Beautiful trees in Tunisian countryside

According to data of International Olive Oil Council Italy’s olive oil production reached 222.000 tons in harvest season 2014-2015 and the internal consumption was of 521.000 tons, the lowest by far of last ten years and it has exported around 208.000 tons.

These data clearly express that Italy needs  to import olive oil. A duty-free import quota is a good opportunity for Italy and for Tunisia too. If the politicians criticizing this move by European Parliament were so focused on studying measures to face fraud with half of the zeal with which they criticize the increase of the quota, Italian olive oil will have not the bad reputation it has currently.

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.

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.

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

Then drain it

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!

Beyond olive oil. An Apulian classic dish: olives and "pomodorini"

This is a quick, easy sample of Apulian cuisine I would like to share with you. A poor dish very common in Apulia's kitchens in this period. This could be used as a starter or could be enough for a light dinner. This is the recipe:

Olives and "pomodorini"

Ingredients (for two persons):

- 150 gr of sweet olives 

- 130 gr of "pomodorini" tomatoes (round shaped Italian tomatoes)

- Extra virgin olive oil (Coratina if available)

- Salt

Just take the olives and put into a frying pan 

Add some extra virgin olive oil 

And "pomodorini". Put salt to taste.

Fry for five minutes over medium fire. When "pomodorini" are cooked

... stay ready to taste it and serve.

Buon appetito!

Olive Oil production estimate in Europe

 The output of olive oil production for the following season in Europe is not expected to be one of the best of last years.

This forecast is largely due to the bad harvest expected in the top producer country, Spain.

Spanish olive oil production is expected to fall to approximately 900.000 tons from 1.900.000 tons of last record-breaking harvest.

Dryness could be considered the main cause of this bad result that will affect more on the scarcity of olive oil currently available in world market and will push the prices high, higher than current price of extra-virgin in Jaén sold for 2,55€ per kilo.

The situation in Italy, second world producer of olive oil, is not better than Spanish one. The extreme weather conditions during last summer and early autumn, with heavy rainfalls in August and September and unusual hot temperatures during October damaged the crops. These conditions determined a high humidity rate that helped the spread of the olive oil fly inducing a quantitative and qualitative decrease of the production, especially  in regions with a huge production like Puglia and Calabria. Second place in world ranking this year is threated by another Southern European country: Greece.

Olive trees seen by Van Gogh

The Hellenic nation is the only player in Europe that is forecast to sharply increase its olive oil production.  After a negative season last year, with about 100,000 tons of output, the expected production for 2014-2015 harvest is of about 270,000.  Peloponnese might have a very good performance in coming season and Crete also is expected to have a good production.

Other countries, like Portugal and Croatia, will have a little drop.

The price of olive oil is currently touching the peak of last years. A kilo of oil is sold between 2,55€ of Jaén and the average Italian price of about 4,10 €. 

Sources

www.bloomberg.com

www.dailymail.co.uk

www.lastampa.it

www.agi.it

www.olioofficina.it

www.internationaloliveoil.org