Olive picking in Tuscany

Our extra virgin olive oil is the product of a recipe of ancient gestures, loud and shiny modern oil mills, observation of the sky, of the wind (some years there is a wind, tramontana, that makes you worry your fingers will be cut off soon!) and year-round, constant weather concerns (it is always raining too much. Or too little).

Olives on the nets

In these days of Indian Summer (in Italy it is called "Estate di San Martino", a period of good autumn weather that "dura tre giorni e un pochinino", lasts three days and a little more) takes place one of the most delicate phases of the cycle, the olive harvest.

The olive collection here is made spreading large nets under the trees and shaking the branches with a stick if on the ground or directly from the branch if you climb on the tree. Then, like country fishermen, we retreat the nets, concentrating the olives to choose them, discard those that do not look good and put the good ones in the bags. Soon after it important to go to the oil mill, because it should not pass too much time (more than a couple of days) from harvesting to olive pressing. 

Hand made olive pick up

We, in Fucecchio, Tuscany, have a few trees, its number does always seem too short! And maybe you get only a flask out of a bag of olives, the ratio is 5 to 7 kilos per liter but, trust me, it is the best extra virgin olive oil in the world!

Olives in the bag