Olive Picking Season - Part 1

From mid-October to early November every year, the picking of the olives becomes the absolute pinnacle of importance here in Sant’Oliva. All hands are on deck and all topics of conversations tend to lean towards one thing... Olives! “How many quintals have you made this year? Have you taken your olives to be pressed yet? How many litres did you make?" The same questions from the locals repeat again and again purely because everyone understand the massive task at hand.

The family’s olive grove covers around 100 olive trees that need to be cleaned, cut and picked every year. The workload is hard, to say the very least but it is definitely worth the effort to be able to have this liquid gold on tap, which is used every single day in our cooking.

The process begins by laying out large green nets under a selected olive tree, making sure that all the edges of the net are slightly elevated to eliminate any chance of runaways. Using their hands, (or if you are one of the lucky ones, a machine) they gently claw at the branches, catching the olives between their fingers before letting them fall to the ground. Once you get into the rhythm of it all, it can be so very therapeutic. There is something about being in nature and working with your hands that is so satisfying for the soul and who could complain about that view…

After the olives have been picked, they are then transported back to the barn where they are tipped onto a handmade wooden contraption that sorts out the olives from the leaves and debris. The iron grill allows the leaves to fall through onto the ground, while the olives tumble into a crate that is then weighed and put aside for transportation to the olive mill. I love this job because it takes very little effort to see a sufficient amount of work finished and it gets a little addictive ;)

Next week in Part -2 of Olive season in Sant’Oliva, I’ll share with you the next stage in the olive oil process… We’ll be heading to the mill to see how olive oil is actually extracted, leaving us with the pure liquid gold we so much love to use in our everyday lives.

#olivepicking #Lazio #Italianculture