A GUEST POST! TINA AND THE NEW OIL

A lot of blogs feature guest bloggers from time to time, and today I'm joining the club!  Our friend Tina, who's from Seattle, but whose heart is torn between Argentina and Italy, writes about her passion for olive oil.  Tina has recently returned 'home' to Italy and is currently based in Perugia.  Here's what she has to say about olive oil: 

New Olive Oil in Italy

One of my favorite things about living in Italy is that I am close to the source of my favorite food: olive oil. If you follow expat bloggers in Italy on a regular basis, then you've probably been reading a lot about this year’s new olive oil. Autumn has arrived, and it's the time of year when olives are harvested and pressed into gorgeous green oil, and towns all over hold various festivals as an excuse to partake of this heavenly substance.

This may not seem like a big deal to some, but to me it is very important. After spending all that time in Argentina where the olive oil lacked the flavor I was looking for, I’m in paradise right now.

Recently I went with a friend to “Festivol” in Trevi, which celebrated this year’s new olive oil from producers in the area. The area around Trevi is said to have the best olive oil, so I feel fortunate to live within a reasonable distance.

The rain was coming down in sheets the day we went, so we didn't do much exploring outside. Luckily a lot of tastings were set up indoors. I happily flitted from table to table, enjoying the green spiciness of Trevi's olive oil with toasted pieces of bread. I was impressed with how green some of the oils were - to the point of being electric. It’s really too bad it was raining, as I'm sure there would have been a lot of interesting tastings set up outdoors too.

After we’d had enough, and after stuffing ourselves with roasted chestnuts, we paid a visit to Trampetti, an olive oil producer quite well-known in Seattle, my hometown. I just had to go straight to the source - especially considering how expensive their oil can be when you're buying it in the United States, imported. We were greeted warmly by Federico, who showed us around the frantoio and let us taste some exquisite oil. I couldn’t let myself leave without buying a bottle. Good stuff.

My local supermarket is now filled with new olive oil. Giant bottles, small bottles. Everybody is buying olive oil – and if they’re not buying it, it’s because they have olive trees or friends with olive trees. At couple of restaurants I've been to lately, I've seen a bottle of new olive oil on every table. Recently, a friend gave me two bottles of new olive oil from another local producer as a gift. Olive oil everywhere!

I feel so fortunate to live so close to the source. No matter how much you appreciate a particular product, as soon as you see for yourself where it comes from and how it is made, your appreciation only grows. And in my case, it has turned into an addiction.

-Tina Ferrari is a translator, writer and tango dancer based in Perugia, Italy. She writes at AffordableCallingCards.net, where you can buy affordable prepaid phone cards for calling Italy, as well as on her own blog, TINA TANGOS. Comments are always welcome!

CELBRATING THE NEW OLIVE OIL

Finalmente! The new olive oil is ready, frangrant and spicy, needing only a piece of toasted bread and a little salt to enjoy it at it's best. This weekend, November 7th and 8th, is the official Frantoi Aperti

when many frantoi (olive mills) will open their doors to the public, not only to buy the new oil, but also to see how it's made and maybe enjoy a few tastry treats as well.

Trevi, which calls itself the "city of oil" will once again host it's own very special celebration for the frantoi aperti. Click on the link to see what's planned: city tours, concerts, food and a local market among other things. I think I'll pass on the donkey rides, but everything else sounds pretty cool! Hopefully I'll also be able to buy some fresh pumpkin for cooking, and maybe some more of Trevi's famous black celery. It's going to be a delicious weekend!

New this year, the fun of the Frantoi Aperti will continue for FIVE weekends, from November 7/8 through December 5/6. More details on the Frantoi Aperti website.

ART IN TREVI

In Italy, and I guess throughout most of Europe, building hundreds, sometimes thousands, of years old are crumbling away due to years of neglect and now, air pollution. Car exhaust causes marble to soften and leaves an ugly black residue. For these reasons you'll often see buildings covered in scaffolding as they're being renovated and/or cleaned.

I know there's nothing more disappointing than rounding the corner, anxious for that first glimpse of a building you've only seen in pictures before - only to find it shrouded in scaffolding! When that happens, you have to tell yourself that the work-in-progress is necessary to ensure that these building will be around for generations to come.

Here in Umbria, in addition to the regular maintenance, there are still repairs being made from damage caused during the 1997 earthquake. If only I'd had the concession for scaffolding and cranes I could be living the high life by now!

TREVI has been covered with scaffolding and over-shadowed by cranes for well over a year now - maybe two, and who knows how long these renovations will take? In an effort to distract from the plywood walls that separate and protect, Trevi has begun an artistic program where artists can decorate the walls with a variety of subjects.

There was this painting of John and Yoko, among the modern designs, as well as this unfinished piece in a  more Rennaissance style.

While in Trevi a few weekends ago we also noticed that many artists had their work on display.  One artist who caught our attention was ALFIO TABARRINI.  At first we were enchanted by his wood carvings of hilltowns, (Trevi, I assume), but he also had works of a completely different style on display.  I'm not usually a big fan of modern art, and maybe the subject matter has something to do with it, but these colorful renditions of Trevi were very, very interesting. 

MY PHOTOS OF TREVI!

SAN PELLEGRINO, the bottled water company, has used several of my photos in their current online article about Trevi! As you know, Trevi and it's olive oil are both favorites of ours, so I was quite pleased for my photos to be used to help promote this beautiful city. You can read the article and see the photos HERE.

You have to click to enlarge the photos in order to see the credits, but I think at least four of the photos are mine.

PRESSING OLIVES 2009

From our favorite frantoio just outside of Trevi. Here you can actually see every step in the process, beginning with the giant stone wheels crushing the olives. Next the olive paste is spread onto mats which are stacked up then squeezed together, forcing out the oil. A centrifuge then separates the water from the oil, it's that simple!

A NICE SOUVENIER IDEA!

Trevi calls itself "The City of Oil", as in olive oil. The city iself is surrounded on every side by thousands of olive trees, and we love the spicy oil that comes from this area.



On a recent visit to Trevi we saw this cute doorknob, complete with a tiny Italian flag. I want one of these for my front door!



You can see more pictures from our visit to Trevi on our FLICKR PAGE
in the folder entitled "Trevi For Lunch".

A SUNDAY OF SAUSAGE, CELERY AND SAGRANTINO

Last weekend we drove across Umbria, past the vineyards of Sagrantino, past the olive trees waited to be harvested, to Trevi. Trevi is famous for the beautiful celery that grows in the region. It's sweet, stringless and so dark green it's called black celery. We arrived early, as is our style, and on a Sunday afternoon this meant we were able to find a parking spot just outside the centro!

Stalls were set up selling antiques and knick-knacks, candy, and, luckily for us, onions from nearby Cannara. I bought several braided bunches of the flat sweet variety, perfect for roasting in the oven, some 'regular' onions for cooking, and a small bunch of garlic. Before we'd even entered the centro the trip was a success!

On our way into the centro we stopped in a small side piazza where potted herbs, apples, wine and grains were on sale. The pictures of the grapes in the previous two posts were from one of the booths, hosted by CANTINA BARTOLONI, one of the many producers of SAGRANTINO WINE. At €15 a bottle, this was our best bargain of the day.

Once finally into the centro we were surrounded by crates of beautiful celery and the smell of sausages on the grill. I'm guessing that this was the festa of sausages and celery because a festa with only celery wouldn't be quite as tasty! Art and I split a sausage sandwich and I resisted Art's urgings to buy more celery than we needed, knowing that we'll be back in Trevi on November 2nd for the FRANTOI APERTI. Hopefully there will be more celery for sale like there was last year.

For the drive home we took a new route, one we weren't sure of, but one we knew would get us to our destination.....eventually. The leaves of the Sagrantino grapevines are just starting to turn, and in a few weeks the vineyards will offer a dazzling display of reds, oranges and golds, our answer to fall color here in Umbria.

As always, more photos on OUR FLICKR PAGE.

TASTING THE NEW OIL

Last year we missed the FRANTOI APERTI, and I was so glad we’d be here this year to taste the new oil. The first year we were here we visited frantoi all over Umbria, but now that we’re a bit more educated we concentrate on the area around Trevi, since that particular area has the spiciest, strongest oil…the kind we like.

Umbria is divided into five zones with regards to olive oil. Just as wine is now certified by DOC or DOCG labeling, so is olive oil. DOP means ‘Denominazione d’Origine Protetta”, meaning that the olives are certified to be from the specified area, and in the specified proportions. Each zone has different specifications for it’s oil, and in the Colli Assisi-Spoleto area where Trevi is located, the specifications for the oil are as follows: 60% (minimum) Moraiolo Olives, 30% (maximum) Leccino and Frantoio varities, and no more than 10% of other varieties. Other areas use different percentages of each olive variety, and even if you don’t know that Moraiolo are the spicy olives, a helpful guide on the FRANTOI APERTI site will tell you not only the blend of olives, but also whether the oil is spicy (piccante), strong (forte), fruity, (fruttato) bitter (amaro), etc :

The FRANTOI APERTI website, a wealth of too much information, eventually revealed what I really wanted: the program for the weekend, complete in two pdf downloads. At last, a map of the participating frantoi! I could now begin to plot our day, to decide where we’d first taste the new oil.

I was so busy that I really didn’t look at much of the other info, but luckily Art did. By digging through all the information Art discovered that both Spoleto and Trevi were offering shuttle busses to the various frantoi, and each city appeared to be hosting other activities too….finally, we see people learning how to market their products! Because Trevi was closer, and because there were several olive mills in that area, we decided to drive to Trevi to check it out.

Trevi, a charming medieval hilltown south of Umbria calls itself the “City of Oil”. It’s surrounded literally by hundreds, maybe thousands, of olive trees that create a silvery green backdrop. We arrived around 11 a.m. and checked with someone working at the information booth. She told us the shuttle bus would leave around 12:30 and that it would be waiting right where we were standing. We grabbed some of the brochures and set out to explore.

We had a chance to admire the antique cars on display (see my previous post), visit a frantoio within walking distance of the centro, and see what was happening in the main piazza. Trevi is also known for it’s ‘black’ celery, which explained why we kept seeing people with bags containing HUGE stalks of celery. Once we reached the main piazza we saw crate after crate of celery, plenty of winter vegetables, sausages, cheese, and of course, the star of the day….lots and lots of olive oil.

We tasted several different oils and decided that we really liked the oil from the Gaudenzi Frantoio, and yes! they had it in 3 liter tins! We’d decided to take some back to the states with us in December, and thought that a 3 liter tin made more sense than a 5 liter tin. With luggage weight restrictions being what they are, every pound (or should I say chilo?) counts.

Also in the piazza was a huge grill for toasting bread. We lined up with everyone else who was waiting for the next batch of bruschetta! Once again the simplest of ingredients combine to make such a perfect treat….bread, garlic, olive oil and salt....YUMMMMM!

We bought the oil and took it to the car just as the shuttle bus was pulling up. It held about twenty people so we got on board and waited for the driver to return. Once we left the centro we drove slowly back down the hillside, past places we remembered from previous years, to our first stop….and we were a little surprised to see that it was FRANTOIO GAUDENZI ….the oil we’d just bought in the centro. Well, at least we wouldn’t have to lug the oil back with us. Once inside the fairly new building (they were just completing it when we were there in 2003) everyone was given the chance to see the modern equipment used to produce the oil and to listen to a short talk.

Back on the bus after about twenty minutes we made our way to our second stop….the COOPERATIVA di TREVI . The oil here wasn’t as spicy as the previous frantoio, so I took the opportunity to look around the display area where they sell not just oil, but fresh meats, sausages, pasta, beans, and…surprise surprise! Olive liqueur!

We first saw this olive liqueur way back in December of 2003 at a Christmas exposition in Bastia. Luckily they were offering samples, and once Art tried it he couldn’t resist. Our friend Wendy was quite taken with it as well, and she bought several bottles as gifts that year. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to find it since!

As soon as I saw the distinctive bottle of olive liqueur I called out to Art, then reached for my cell phone to give Wendy a call. Naturally the price had gone up since we first bought it four years ago, but still, €20 for such a unique taste of Umbria seemed money well spent. When we took our bottles to the checkout desk the girl overheard us talking and told us that it was nearly impossible to find…and we told her yes, we knew that only too well.

Okay, onward to the next frantoio! This one turned out to be one we’d searched for before but never found. I think it must have been at the end of the day, and when we didn’t find it right off the bat we just said the heck with it and gave up. Now the area’s a bit more developed and I think the signs are better, and we found ourselves at the last stop of the day, "IL FRANTOIO", where we would taste olive oil in ways we never imagined!

All the pictures from our day of oil tasting are available on our FLICKR PAGE .