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Olive oil-the oldest industry in Catalonia

Olives and olive oil is what brought the Greeks and Romans to the Iberian peninsula some 3,500 yrs ago and it has been a crucial commodity ever since. The south of Spain produces the quantity with thousands of hectares cultivated in the poorest soils where nothing else will survive the extreme weather, but around Lleida in the western part of Catalonia there are also extensive plantations.

The main variety is the arbequina olive which although small in size has one of the lowest levels of acidity and some even go as far as to say it produces "sweet" olive oil in contrast to the more "picante" southern varieties.

Outside the town of Les Borges Blanques, some 35kms from Lleida, just off the main road, is a museum/theme park devoted to explaining the cultivation, processing and selling of olive oil through history.

Outside the gardens are full of huge gnarled olive trees that date back to when the Romans were in the area some 2,000 yrs ago. One amazing tree is said to have been carbon dated as 2,700 yrs old!

The process of extraction got increasingly sophisticated as the presses on display show until today it is a high tech enterprise where the temperature is controlled and the quality has improved beyond belief with the resulting oil giving an organoleptic experience like a good wine.

Now there are hundreds of different oils on the market, some from olives picked early making the oil a green colour to blends of different varieties or organically produced, whichever way with some bread to drizzle on it is still one of the best Mediterranean customs!

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Filed under // arbequina Greeks Iberian peninsula Les Borges Blanques Lleida Mediterranean olive oil olives Romans Spain

Olive harvest in Girona province

Today's scene is being repeated all over Catalonia where nights are cold and days are clear and sunny allowing people to harvest their small parcels of olive trees dotted around the countryside. Like most traditional activities here, the picking of olives becomes an outing with friends and family where much chatting goes on while the trees are being stripped. The old method involves sticks, buckets and nets; the sticks to beat the branches to dislodge the ripe fruit (olives), the nets spread on the ground below to catch the falling olives and buckets to fill up and then dump in a bigger container.
The harvest for most people only takes a few days since in Girona province most trees are on small parcels bordering fields or vines and really only produce enough olive oil for a family to use the following year. Once picked then the olives are taken to one of the co-operative crushers and they can either sell their olives for cash or take the equivalent weight/quality in olive oil once pressed and bottled.
Then the eating and drinking begins either under the very trees or in some of the small villages where they have proper olive oil festivals. The main varieties found are the slightly sweet arbequina, full bodied argudell and aromatic picual as well as the imported Greek variety koroniki in some of the larger commercial estates.
Just like with grapes there are many different organoleptic qualities to appreciate in olive oil and whether they are picked slightly green or when fully ripe will affect the final colour as well as aroma and taste. My favourite is the early harvested green olive oil from the first pressing-this is delicious poured on bread with tomato rubbed on and a slice of cheese or sausage on top...