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Published: November 2nd 2015
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Abruzzo
Olives picked within the last 24 hours. Day 4 continued
We left Ascoli and the Marche and entered Abruzzo province. While Marche was incorporated into the papal states, Abruzzo was under the authority of the Kingdom of Sicily. The kings of Sicily were from France or Spain did not invest in Abruzzo, Bari or Calabria and they remain poorer and much less developed even today.
Our first stop of the afternoon was a family owned olive oil processing plant. Plans to let us pick olives were cancelled because of the muddy fields but we were able to walk into all parts of the plant to see the process at work. OSHA would freak. This is the peak time for making olive oil and we saw it from beginning to end. The plant works like a cooperative. Growers drop off their harvest and the product is weighed. Then the stems are removed and the olives are pressed to release the oil and the remaining pits are ground into a powder and sold as fertilizer. The remaining pulp and skins are compressed under great pressure to release the oil. The oil is poured into galvanized cans, weighed and returned to the grower. Processing must
Abruzzo
Look closely and you can see the oil dripping on the sides. begin within twenty-four hours of picking. Once all the olives are processed, the oils from the owners fields are repackaged and marketed throughout the EU.
There is also a total mechanized system that produces a slightly bitter product but I loved the oil from the old wooden press the best. We sampled all the oils with bread, on bread with tapenade, tomatoes, salami, anchovies and other goodies that I can't remember. It was a veritable feast.
From there we traveled to a trattoria when we learned to make a local speciality, stuffed olives. We went into the kitchen where the chef demonstrated how to de-pit the olive leaving the skin and pulp pretty much in tact. Then he chopped carrots, celery and onions very fine and fried them in olive oil adding chunks of veal, chicken and pork until cooked. All was put into a grinder and secret spices (salt, pepper, mystery ones) and then the olives were stuffed with the mixture. The olives are then rolled in flour, dipped in egg and rolled in unflavored breadcrumbs. Next they were then deep fried till golden brown. After all that work the end result was
Abruzzo
Pat under the Chefs watchful eye. not so good for me, kind of bitter. Members of the group were invited to try their hand at pitting the olives. My effort was an unholy mess. The olive stuffing went a little better.
From olive stuffing we went to a winery for a tasting. This was a highlight for me. My knee was giving me grief so I asked to be excused from the tour and they sat me in the tasting room and I was kept company by Nona who is in her mid-eighties and doesn't speak of understand English. Since my Italian is non existent we smiled and sat quietly together, Nona fingering her rosary. When the tour was over, our group and the rest of the families arrived. One family makes the sausage and the hosts make the wine. Our wonderful guide Leah translated for us. They all were warm and friendly and obviously delighted to have us there. The room was recently finished and everything was so comfortable. We ate family style, cured meat, cheeses, bread with olive oil and olives while tasting the wines. The ladies of the group were raving about Paul Newman. He is the husband of one
Abruzzo
The finished product. of the owners daughters and is really very handsome with a great smile. This was an added treat. By now it was dark and the bus made it's way down the winding mountain road part of it washed away by recent heavy rains. This was a long but very special day.
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