Photo: Basking in the autumn sunshine
“About one, maybe one and a half quintale”.
That was the forecast for our harvest about a month ago. That was a problem. We called the frantoio (olive press). The minimum amount for a press was two quintale (200kg of olives).
As the harvest approached we arranged with our neighbours to buy some of theirs to make up the two quintale.
On the morning of the harvest Luigi took another look at our olives. “Wow, they’ve grown”. A warm October with occasional rain had super charged the olives. After an hour of picking Luigi reckoned we’d easily have two quintale, so no need to trouble our neighbours.
By the time Luigi and his son had finished harvesting we had 22 crates of olives. Easily three quintale, possibly more. We dropped a message to Francesco at the frantoio to expect more than we booked. No problem.
The next day we packed the crates into Luigi’s car and headed off for our appointment with the frantoio. Each person’s harvest is loaded into these large crates for weighing.
Our harvest filled two of these. We received our weighing slip.
438kg, over four quintale! Our biggest harvest yet. As they were late developers then the yield would be lower than the exceptional 16.99% from two years ago, so we’d end up with less oil, but still more than enough for us.
After pressing we have ours filtered, which gives us our first glimpse of the amazing colour.
The final count from the frantoio revealed a yield of 13.77%
After pressing and filtering all we had to do was get the oil home. At the press a complete mixture of vehicles are used to transport the olives to and the oil from the frantoio, including cars, tractors, vans, Apes, even an ambulance!
We always raise a smile when we transport ours like children. This year we had triplets.
2020 Olio Extra Vergine di Casa Angeletti, Cartoceto DOP
* 438kg of olives
* 60.35 kg of oil
* 13.77% yield
* 66 litres of oil
A deeper olive green colour than previous years. It will turn more yellow as the oil ages.
Strong aroma of freshly cut, slightly damp grass.
The greener olives this year has produced a stronger, younger taste with quite a kick of pepper on the throat. It’s one for fresh olive oil enthusiasts, but will mellow over the next few months.
Use on bruschetta and in salads for the first few months, then use it for cooking as it matures.
Keep in a cool, dry place, away from from direct sunlight.
Use by the end of summer 2022.
This year’s label reflects the big event of 2020.
No, not the pandemic, but the Giro di Muscoli. Colin rode 2,320km in 15 days to help raise an incredible nearly €109,000 for patients fo Motor Neurone Disease in the UK, The Netherlands and Italy.
The label features Jan, Colin, Gerben and Jeanne in Arnhem at the end of the “Dutch Day” of the Giro, Sunday 13th September 2020.
Colin and Jan Fisher 