2022 harvest

Photo: Breakfast for the crew.

This year’s harvest didn’t start well. For the last several years the same people have harvested our olives. With two weeks to go before the harvesting season they told us they couldn’t do it anymore. Mild panic.

To harvest we need nets, containers, rakes and labour. Better than rakes are the battery powered harvesting machines that shake the olives off the tree. It saves an enormous amount of time.

We investigated renting the equipment but it was all booked out. What to do?

The CC came to the rescue. Once a month we have a curry night with three other couples, Jelina & Joep, Gabrielle and Jac, Clara and Karel. We call it the Curry Club.

Joep and Jelina had bought all the equipment this year and had recruited ten friends to do their harvest. We offered to help that week but they had enough labour and mouths to feed!

The deal was:

Day 1: The CC finished off Joep and Jelina’s trees, a neighbour’s and Clara and Karel’s.

Day 2: Ours: The CC arrived early on Tuesday 2nd November for breakfast. We reckoned we’d do the bigger trees with the machines in the morning then the smaller trees by hand in the afternoon.

Thanks to Joep’s organisation, division of labour and a great team effort we’d finished by 13:00.

Only one thing left to do before taking the olives to the mill. Lunch:

At Frantoio Serafini our olives were processed, thanks to Francesco, separately from the rest so that our oil came from only our trees.

2022 Olio Extra Vergine di Casa Angeletti, Cartoceto DOP

* 222kg of olives

* 36.25 kg of oil

* 16.32% yield

* 39 litres of oil

This year we had very few olives from the Leccino trees. Almost all the harvest came from the older Raggiola. This means the oil is more robust and peppery than previous years and a more yellow green than usual.

The aroma is of freshly cut grass on a misty autumn day.

As always, new olive oil is best enjoyed on bruschetta (toast) and as a salad dressing. After a few months it can also be used for cooking.

Keep in a cool, dry place, away from from direct sunlight.

Use by the end of summer 2024.

This year’s label photo reflects a big change in our lives. We now share our home with Phoebe and Bobby, though sometimes we feel we are sharing their home!