And all the best from all of us!
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Harvest time has come!
I'm writing while it's raining outside - and it is has been so for days already. Those who know say it'll last for a few days more, but it should end by mid week. Not really interesting, is it? But it's a quite important bit of info as I've been (nervously, I have to admit) checking the olives for the last weeks, and we're ready to go! So, harvest time has come, and if you'd like to join us in fileds or at the mill, do let me know, as next weekend we'll start picking!
Monday, 30 September 2013
A forgotten tale
Past lives and stories have always had a special charme to me. An old letter, a path in the fields covered by growth, a roman ruin. If one looks hard enough, it is too easy to notice all the signs of days gone by, of hard work and dreams.
Sometimes they are exposed, standing so clear to remain unnoticed, obvious, and sometimes remain veiled and ask for a second look, and a second tought. In this angle of the Mediterranean, where hands have shaped, reshaped, covered and unearthed many layers, the shifts to city life of the past decades has allowed the nature to regain control of landscapes long held by man. I'd like to take you to such a place.
On our usual summer sailing route there's a well protected bay we like to stay - clear water, not much crowded, with a nice restaurant a short walk through the woods.
There's an almost hidden path that takes you from a small pier at the end of the bay to the restaurant - at first glance one does not take notice of it, as the eyes get slowly accustomed to the dim light filtering down the pine tree woods.
Walking through the quite thick undergrowth, something familiar but not easily definable starts to intrigue me - there's something in this forest that does not fit. Step after step, it suddently becomes clear: we're walking through an olive orchard! In between the slender pines and cypresses, the contorted grey olive logs now show themselves to my eyes, concious of the double nature of their surroundings.
The walk now takes a completely new dimension, and becomes a walk through time - what is now a thick pine forest, in days gone by used to glow of the silvery green nuances of the olive leave.
Grey, fossilized like old bones, the reminders of a different landscape and of the people that created it, the olives accompany you on a summer's eve walk, like roman milestones indifferent to their forgotten purpose.
Then, if you did not wonder off the beaten path, you may see this signal
which quickly reminds you of the reason you took that walk altogether - and believe me, it won't disappoint you - if you're into grilled fish or lamb. It's a bit rustic and unrefined, but with a lot of soul.
Sometimes they are exposed, standing so clear to remain unnoticed, obvious, and sometimes remain veiled and ask for a second look, and a second tought. In this angle of the Mediterranean, where hands have shaped, reshaped, covered and unearthed many layers, the shifts to city life of the past decades has allowed the nature to regain control of landscapes long held by man. I'd like to take you to such a place.
On our usual summer sailing route there's a well protected bay we like to stay - clear water, not much crowded, with a nice restaurant a short walk through the woods.
There's an almost hidden path that takes you from a small pier at the end of the bay to the restaurant - at first glance one does not take notice of it, as the eyes get slowly accustomed to the dim light filtering down the pine tree woods.
Walking through the quite thick undergrowth, something familiar but not easily definable starts to intrigue me - there's something in this forest that does not fit. Step after step, it suddently becomes clear: we're walking through an olive orchard! In between the slender pines and cypresses, the contorted grey olive logs now show themselves to my eyes, concious of the double nature of their surroundings.
The walk now takes a completely new dimension, and becomes a walk through time - what is now a thick pine forest, in days gone by used to glow of the silvery green nuances of the olive leave.
Grey, fossilized like old bones, the reminders of a different landscape and of the people that created it, the olives accompany you on a summer's eve walk, like roman milestones indifferent to their forgotten purpose.
Then, if you did not wonder off the beaten path, you may see this signal
which quickly reminds you of the reason you took that walk altogether - and believe me, it won't disappoint you - if you're into grilled fish or lamb. It's a bit rustic and unrefined, but with a lot of soul.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
The needle and the damage done
This little insect is becoming the main summer blues down here in Istria, and more often than not in the last days, Neil Young's song from which I shamelessly stolen the title for this post, is coming to my mind. The little bug is piercing a huge number of small olives, and as the situation is standing at the moment we are looking at a 50%+ loss of harvest.
Not a good outlook, especially as the instruments available to limit the damage are almost non-existent. But, as in any other field, any event brings lessons to be learned and has some positive, although minor, sides.
Some of the olives managed to survive, and are becoming "too big to fail" as the pierces now are just becoming an aesthetic issue, rather than life-or-death.
On another side, we came to know and understand this problem before full production and whilst the majority of trees are still very young, which will lead to proper preparation for next year and to a bigger growth of the trees this year, since they do not have to feed all those olives (hopefully meaning more olives next year!).
And all that happening before the olive fly even beginning its offensive...Which may give you an idea why organic is sometimes more expensive than "normally" grown food!
Still, working hard as there's less than 100 days to harvest. Looking forward to the dawn of that day!
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| A fistful of damage |
Not a good outlook, especially as the instruments available to limit the damage are almost non-existent. But, as in any other field, any event brings lessons to be learned and has some positive, although minor, sides.
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| Something is still hanging on! |
Some of the olives managed to survive, and are becoming "too big to fail" as the pierces now are just becoming an aesthetic issue, rather than life-or-death.
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| Another one (or two) bites the dust |
On another side, we came to know and understand this problem before full production and whilst the majority of trees are still very young, which will lead to proper preparation for next year and to a bigger growth of the trees this year, since they do not have to feed all those olives (hopefully meaning more olives next year!).
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| Bue sky within |
And all that happening before the olive fly even beginning its offensive...Which may give you an idea why organic is sometimes more expensive than "normally" grown food!
Still, working hard as there's less than 100 days to harvest. Looking forward to the dawn of that day!
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Olive fruits - the missing, the missed, and the survivors (an early overview)
It's still quite early for a proper assessment of where this year will bring us, but few weeks after the flowers left place for the olive fruits we can give you some bits and pieces about where we're standing - we'll still have to wait for the end of the summer for any conclusions!
The leccino (which gives a quite balanced, gentle oil) has been a bit of a misfirer - lots of flowers but not that generous in fruits, maybe because the pendolino (another variety that is supposed to pollinate it) almost completely forgot to blossom. Here's how a branch of leccino is looking now:
Of the other varieties, the bianchera (which in contrast to the leccino, gives a peppery, spicy oil) is handling quite well. You can see from the below picture that the branches are well populated (the tiny dots close to the leaves!):
Some of you may remember my earlier post on pests (excuse the pun) which sits just below this one: anyway, here's the link for the lazy. It turned out the little bug is causing problems: we released our team of specialists to chech the population:
And we found quite a number of those insects on our trees, which prompted us to spray some repellent on the trees. Here you can see what a catch looks like:
One is never happy to see them around in numbers, as in few days they decimate the still small fruits by piercing them to feed and breed (here's a picture of a sliced olive, few millimetres in diameter):
What happens afterwards is that the young fruit, fatally wounded, dies - too early, too young. I'd rather see their glorious end by being poured, as oil, on a steak, rather than see them fall by the beak?mouth? of a small brown insect!
Anyway, we're doing our best to bring you a fantastic oil this year too, and the path to harvest is still long ...
The leccino (which gives a quite balanced, gentle oil) has been a bit of a misfirer - lots of flowers but not that generous in fruits, maybe because the pendolino (another variety that is supposed to pollinate it) almost completely forgot to blossom. Here's how a branch of leccino is looking now:
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| Not really crowded! |
Of the other varieties, the bianchera (which in contrast to the leccino, gives a peppery, spicy oil) is handling quite well. You can see from the below picture that the branches are well populated (the tiny dots close to the leaves!):
 |
| Probably a serious discussion going on... |
Some of you may remember my earlier post on pests (excuse the pun) which sits just below this one: anyway, here's the link for the lazy. It turned out the little bug is causing problems: we released our team of specialists to chech the population:
 |
| Note the special net used by the young assistant! |
And we found quite a number of those insects on our trees, which prompted us to spray some repellent on the trees. Here you can see what a catch looks like:
 |
| The insects are marked in red - the others are their victims |
One is never happy to see them around in numbers, as in few days they decimate the still small fruits by piercing them to feed and breed (here's a picture of a sliced olive, few millimetres in diameter):
 |
| Piercing |
What happens afterwards is that the young fruit, fatally wounded, dies - too early, too young. I'd rather see their glorious end by being poured, as oil, on a steak, rather than see them fall by the beak?mouth? of a small brown insect!
 |
Anyway, we're doing our best to bring you a fantastic oil this year too, and the path to harvest is still long ...
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Public enemy No.1
Well, not by general ranking, it's just the first to make its appearance this year! Still not a significant threat, but we'll be keeping an eye on those guys.
Whilst it does not look like much, this little insect (rhynchites cribripennis for his friends) can wipe out a good part of a year's production within the end of July, thanks to its nail-like shaped beak (mouth?) - which can be better seen in this picture:
More on its activities (or hopefully not!) in few weeks, when the olives grow to about black pepper seed size.
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| Enjoying the view... |
Whilst it does not look like much, this little insect (rhynchites cribripennis for his friends) can wipe out a good part of a year's production within the end of July, thanks to its nail-like shaped beak (mouth?) - which can be better seen in this picture:
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| Lookin' at me? |
More on its activities (or hopefully not!) in few weeks, when the olives grow to about black pepper seed size.
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Habemus logo! And other news
As the regular readers of this blog may have noticed, Cadenela got a refreshed look and a new logo! We're still working on a completely new dress but could not resist in sharing a bit of our new looks... To be honest, I could not resist and had to show it off even in the orchards - at least the olives are now properly introduced to the (most probably lost) mountain bikers that wander in the area!
But hey, we did not stop there - we're on the way to have the first labelled bottles travel to their new homes and tables! It's quite a small batch so if you're interested do let us know and become one of the first to taste our multi-golden-medal-organic EVOO. It might sound complicated, but it's actually just a very good olive oil (with a lot of artichoke and green pepper tastes developing lately) that gives its best on food with some character (red meat, cheese, prosciutto...). But your mileage may vary, as my daughter likes it best raw, on a slice of bread...
To sum it up,we're quite proud of the work we've done with Katja, and if you have to work on your visual identity we can only recommend her for the effort put in our project! Take a look here , you got all the necessary details to contact her.
Otherwise, we've got a lot of work out there, as the constant rain makes our orchards look more like the Serengeti during the rainy season than anything else - this year is an explosion of every single shade of green one could think of, beautiful to the eye but quite tiresome to the other body parts...
Will be back soon!
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| Guess who's the boss out of the two? |
But hey, we did not stop there - we're on the way to have the first labelled bottles travel to their new homes and tables! It's quite a small batch so if you're interested do let us know and become one of the first to taste our multi-golden-medal-organic EVOO. It might sound complicated, but it's actually just a very good olive oil (with a lot of artichoke and green pepper tastes developing lately) that gives its best on food with some character (red meat, cheese, prosciutto...). But your mileage may vary, as my daughter likes it best raw, on a slice of bread...
To sum it up,we're quite proud of the work we've done with Katja, and if you have to work on your visual identity we can only recommend her for the effort put in our project! Take a look here , you got all the necessary details to contact her.
Otherwise, we've got a lot of work out there, as the constant rain makes our orchards look more like the Serengeti during the rainy season than anything else - this year is an explosion of every single shade of green one could think of, beautiful to the eye but quite tiresome to the other body parts...
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| Everywhere... |
Will be back soon!
Friday, 26 April 2013
Weekend links and pics
As per title, some news about studies on olive oil, a wonderful blog to dig in (google translate may be your friend if you don't speak italian), and some fresh pics from our orchards (not olive connected but I like 'em!)
Wish you a good weekend!
Wish you a good weekend!
Monday, 22 April 2013
ONAOO oil tasting crash course
In addition to being host to our pruning course, ONAOO kindly saved the last day, otherwise lost to the rain, by organizing a quick olive oil tasting for us.
We got on Skype the ONAOO panel leader, Mr.Scoccia, to guide us through a swift voyage around the world in about fifteen monovarietal oils: from Sicily to Umbria, passing by Australia, Chile and the southern coasts of the Mediterranean.
We tasted so many different characters, even between the same variety (coming from two different continents though). One of the biggest surprises (for me at least) was tasting a monocultivar oil made of picual for the first time - that was a Proust moment! As the madeleine for the caracter of In search of the lost time, the picual brought back to my memories all that flat supermarket oils of days gone by (for me at least)...
Looking forward, getting a grip on tasting and blending is the next big step needed to elevate our products a step further, and I am quite certain about where a fair bit of knowledge lies. Imperia, see you soon!
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| That's how it started... |
We got on Skype the ONAOO panel leader, Mr.Scoccia, to guide us through a swift voyage around the world in about fifteen monovarietal oils: from Sicily to Umbria, passing by Australia, Chile and the southern coasts of the Mediterranean.
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| And here's how it ended! |
We tasted so many different characters, even between the same variety (coming from two different continents though). One of the biggest surprises (for me at least) was tasting a monocultivar oil made of picual for the first time - that was a Proust moment! As the madeleine for the caracter of In search of the lost time, the picual brought back to my memories all that flat supermarket oils of days gone by (for me at least)...
Looking forward, getting a grip on tasting and blending is the next big step needed to elevate our products a step further, and I am quite certain about where a fair bit of knowledge lies. Imperia, see you soon!
Olive pruning in Liguria - part two
Having dealt with the introductions in the previous post, I'll pass to the actual course experience.
Actually, I need to do some explanation first:
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| Look, it tells you where to cut! |
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| Really? |
Actually, I need to do some explanation first:
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Another gold for Cadenela!
Amongst other competitions, we submitted a sample of our cuvee' at this year's 19th Olive oil fair in Vodnjan / Dignano. After several golds won on other expositions, we bagged again one of the best results. If you'd like to see the results of the chemical analysis and of the panel test, do click on the image below!
Sunday, 7 April 2013
Olive pruning in Liguria - an overview
After quite some absence from posting (the reader will see why in the coming days), here I start with an initial report from a great experience made possible by the O.N.A.O.O. ( the italian national organization of olive oil tasters, link here).
Actually, it was not about olive oil tasting, but rather about
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| The O.N.A.O.O. offices in Imperia (well, not all of the building...) |
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Olive oil news roundup
Some news are good or bad, depending on how you look at them.
Tom Mueller, journalist and writer (you can check our review of his book here) reports on a mislabeling issue in the US. Have a look at the article here. I'm constantly amazed (both as a producer and a consumer) by the number of products that can hit the shelves and be something else completely. It is encouraging however that there are a number of parties working on consumer awareness, and others trying to make your meals safer. Do keep your eyes open though, and try to educate youreselves on what you are buying. There is no better safeguard from fraudolent food than knowledge.
Another article, this time in the Olive Oil Times here, speaks about a lot of olive oil being detained due to presence of an insecticide not being allowed in the US for use on olives. It may be bad news for EU producers, but it points at two things - first, some traces of insectide may remain within the olive oil that you use even if it is "allowed" to be there by the authorities and be "deemed" "acceptable". You can draw your own conclusions on this.
Second, a proper organic olive oil will not have any insecticide within, and for sure none in the ground, water and air where the olives grow. It will for sure make you happier and relaxed about what you are pouring on your cheese, fish or salad if you know it comes from a place such as this:
Tom Mueller, journalist and writer (you can check our review of his book here) reports on a mislabeling issue in the US. Have a look at the article here. I'm constantly amazed (both as a producer and a consumer) by the number of products that can hit the shelves and be something else completely. It is encouraging however that there are a number of parties working on consumer awareness, and others trying to make your meals safer. Do keep your eyes open though, and try to educate youreselves on what you are buying. There is no better safeguard from fraudolent food than knowledge.
Another article, this time in the Olive Oil Times here, speaks about a lot of olive oil being detained due to presence of an insecticide not being allowed in the US for use on olives. It may be bad news for EU producers, but it points at two things - first, some traces of insectide may remain within the olive oil that you use even if it is "allowed" to be there by the authorities and be "deemed" "acceptable". You can draw your own conclusions on this.
Second, a proper organic olive oil will not have any insecticide within, and for sure none in the ground, water and air where the olives grow. It will for sure make you happier and relaxed about what you are pouring on your cheese, fish or salad if you know it comes from a place such as this:
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Let the plants do your job! Jujube and olive trees
Organic farming, whilst friendly to the environment, brings quite some head scratching when thinking about how to ensure the olive gets the best conditions to grow and produce its fruits. There's quite a lot of additional work to be done if you want to avoid chemical fertilizers and insecticides, and more often than not it's quite time consuming.
One of the most feared enemies of a healthy olive, and consequently of a perfect olive oil, is the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, wikipedia article here). Google can confirm that I am not exaggerating the problem: you get more than 20 million results if you try a search for this little fly...
So what can we do to improve our chances against this small fly whilst keeping human intromission as low as possible? One of the answers is planting jujube trees around the orchard. Ok, some explanation is due: the jujube, except for producing a tasty and healthy fruit:
One of the most feared enemies of a healthy olive, and consequently of a perfect olive oil, is the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae, wikipedia article here). Google can confirm that I am not exaggerating the problem: you get more than 20 million results if you try a search for this little fly...
So what can we do to improve our chances against this small fly whilst keeping human intromission as low as possible? One of the answers is planting jujube trees around the orchard. Ok, some explanation is due: the jujube, except for producing a tasty and healthy fruit:
Monday, 11 March 2013
Of clouds and pearls
As the winter begins its retreat, more and more numerous tiny signs of the incoming spring make themselves visible around the countryside. A flower here and there, the birds' chirp becoming melodic rather than absently atonic, life in all its facets slowly waking up.
One should however not discard winter's strengths and its abrupt comebacks, as we have witnessed these days:
A dense, thick fog intermitted by rainshowers made for an, again, hardly useable period for much overdue works in the orchards. One cannot however work against nature so, walk instead of work it was.
Not all is that grey though - as I said earlier nature is slowly waking up, and early spider webs made for a beautiful rest place for the fog and its tiny water drops.
One should however not discard winter's strengths and its abrupt comebacks, as we have witnessed these days:
A dense, thick fog intermitted by rainshowers made for an, again, hardly useable period for much overdue works in the orchards. One cannot however work against nature so, walk instead of work it was.
Not all is that grey though - as I said earlier nature is slowly waking up, and early spider webs made for a beautiful rest place for the fog and its tiny water drops.
Friday, 22 February 2013
Winter gems
If there was just one thing to appreciate about nature, I'd say it is its (hers?) complete disregard for our needs and wishes. Be it on high sea, in an olive orchard, or climbing a mountain, man is the one who has to adapt, accept and try to get the most out of what is given. It is a humbling experience, but if taken with a skewed approach it can be regarding nonetheless.
The last few weeks have been rainy, windy, cold, or all of them together. In few words, completely useless for any proper activity in the orchard, but at least gave me time to contemplate all of the life and beauty surrounding it.
The last few weeks have been rainy, windy, cold, or all of them together. In few words, completely useless for any proper activity in the orchard, but at least gave me time to contemplate all of the life and beauty surrounding it.
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| A small world |
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| Sugar frosted? |
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| Now I'm hungry already... |
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| Endless sky |
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| Remnants of bygone people |
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Friday, 8 February 2013
Olive oil weekend links
A short list of links to keep you in the loop with the latest news:
- A bit of market research for the economically inclined
- Close to Trieste at the beginning of March? Take a look here!
- Organic farming rolling on with increased numbers
And a beautiful video about the harvest - as it should be:
Tuscan Oliveto from Paul Bates on Vimeo.
My compliments to the author - catched the mood perfectly. Unlike for grapes and wine, where there is as much work to obtain the final product after harvest as there is before, olive harvest is the focal point and condensates one year of work in the orchard. A happy, proud moment, we'd like to share. Come and try yourself!
Happy weekend!
- A bit of market research for the economically inclined
- Close to Trieste at the beginning of March? Take a look here!
- Organic farming rolling on with increased numbers
And a beautiful video about the harvest - as it should be:
Tuscan Oliveto from Paul Bates on Vimeo.
My compliments to the author - catched the mood perfectly. Unlike for grapes and wine, where there is as much work to obtain the final product after harvest as there is before, olive harvest is the focal point and condensates one year of work in the orchard. A happy, proud moment, we'd like to share. Come and try yourself!
Happy weekend!
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| Old roots, new life - a sprout of an olive tree relocated long ago |
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Why (and which) olive oil is good for you
The fact that olive oil (the extra vergine, not the raffinated ones!) is, except from being tasty and improving your cuisine, a fantastic source of healthy substances is quite known - what is not quite so known is that different varieties (cultivars) vastly vary in their properties.
I had the pleasure of attending recently to a lecture about such variances which is now available on the web (for the technically inclined readers, the link is at the bottom of this post). I'll try to sum up the study which I think highlights a number of facts the consumer should be aware of.
For starters, some of the most important healthy properties of the extra vergine are:
- the high level of unsaturated fatty acids (which are good for you because of their effects on LDL cholesterol, in primis)
- again, the high level of alpha tocopherol, or vitamin E (antioxidant par excellence)
- polyphenols (again, antioxydants and antiinflammatories)
Now, the study takes in consideration four diffent cultivars: one introduced (the Leccino), and three autochtonous cultivars (Buza, Bianchera and Rossignola). Why exactly those varieties? The Leccino because of its popularity as a variety, whilst the three locals are also well spread in the region amongst producers. The Leccino and the Buza give gentler oils (say a chardonnay), whilst the Bianchera and Rossignola are oils with a kick (syrah?) Oh, thanks for asking - all of them are well represented in our groves...
Now, what are the findings? Speaking of oleic acid, all the varieties had more than 75%, with a total of average 85% of unsaturated fatty acids, which is well above regulation requirements from health authorities to state the health benefits of its consumation.
And now the interesting bits: should you wish for a higher content of vitamin E, go for Leccino or Rossignola, with the Buza in a honorable and close third place. The Bianchera is well behind the first three, but still above health requirements for foods to be labelled as natural source of vitamin E.
If polyphenols are what you are after, the Bianchera is the clear winner, with values well above the other contesters - notwithstanding this fact, all of them are again well above regulations requirements for being labelled as natural source of antioxydants. I'd like to give you a tip here: check whether the groves your olive oil comes from are irrigated, and if so there is no contest at all - the sometimes high polyphenols level in the other three varieties are almost certainly the consequence of a stressful, dry year.
So, next time you choose a single variety olive oil, you may want to think about the specific health benefits in addition to the diffent tastes they have!
Part of the data for this post was sourced from an article by O.Koprivnjak et al, "Characteristics of Nutritive Value of Virgin Olive Oils from Buža, Istarska bjelica, Leccino and Rosulja Cultivars", 2012, which can be found here.
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| Different shapes, different taste, but also different inherent qualities! |
For starters, some of the most important healthy properties of the extra vergine are:
- the high level of unsaturated fatty acids (which are good for you because of their effects on LDL cholesterol, in primis)
- again, the high level of alpha tocopherol, or vitamin E (antioxidant par excellence)
- polyphenols (again, antioxydants and antiinflammatories)
Now, the study takes in consideration four diffent cultivars: one introduced (the Leccino), and three autochtonous cultivars (Buza, Bianchera and Rossignola). Why exactly those varieties? The Leccino because of its popularity as a variety, whilst the three locals are also well spread in the region amongst producers. The Leccino and the Buza give gentler oils (say a chardonnay), whilst the Bianchera and Rossignola are oils with a kick (syrah?) Oh, thanks for asking - all of them are well represented in our groves...
Now, what are the findings? Speaking of oleic acid, all the varieties had more than 75%, with a total of average 85% of unsaturated fatty acids, which is well above regulation requirements from health authorities to state the health benefits of its consumation.
And now the interesting bits: should you wish for a higher content of vitamin E, go for Leccino or Rossignola, with the Buza in a honorable and close third place. The Bianchera is well behind the first three, but still above health requirements for foods to be labelled as natural source of vitamin E.
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| Author: O.Koprivnjak et al, 2012 |
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| Our vitamin E winner - the Leccino! |
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| Author: O.Koprivnjak et al, 2012 |
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| Kicking not only in taste, but in polyphenols too... |
So, next time you choose a single variety olive oil, you may want to think about the specific health benefits in addition to the diffent tastes they have!
Part of the data for this post was sourced from an article by O.Koprivnjak et al, "Characteristics of Nutritive Value of Virgin Olive Oils from Buža, Istarska bjelica, Leccino and Rosulja Cultivars", 2012, which can be found here.
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