(Photo LOF – Portuguese olives)
End of December – new olive oil. The most important characteristic of good olive oil is its freshness, if the harvest year is not mentioned on the bottle, then check the “best before” date, 0.5 acidity is good.
1. Olive oil should be used within the year. For thousands of years old olive oil was used in lamps. It is because olive oil gave light that it was considered a sacred tree. Athena the godess of intelligence planted the first olive trees.
2. Not everyone makes good olive oil. There are oils made by olive oil producers and oils made by wine producers (the work cycle is complementary so when the grape vines don’t require any work you can pick olives). Prefer olive oil produced by olive oil producers. The olive oil by Cortes de Cima or Cartuxa are disappointing.
Celebrate this years new olive oil :
a/ Find a good, just pressed olive oil, pressed as soon as possible after the harvest.. let it rest a few days in a cool, dark cupboard.
b/ Find a very good fresh loaf of bread.
c/ Set the table, at noon, when you are really hungry, with a white plate and table cloth, in the sun with a sparkling glass.
d/ Cut thick strips of bread, toast them.
e/ As they come out of the toaster pour (not dribble) a bit of this years olive oil.
f/ Salt lightly
(Photo LOF : New olive oil on toast)
Go ahead while its warm : its crunchy, with a tannic acidity, a rainbow of flavours, a party of after tastes, a real presence : concentrated taste that shouts SOUTH. Transcendentality – thats it.
You can accompany this with a wild chickory salad. Red wine : varietal Aragonese.
(Photo LOF – Olive grove, road to Beja)
