Le Mas del Amandier

I am currently working on a major house restoration and hence the lack of blogging, however I have just come across a wonderful olive picking blog entitled lemasdelamandier which immediately took me back to the sights and sounds of the harvest.

Enjoy ....

Help with the Olive Harvest

Are you looking for a new challenge? A chance to spend a week or longer doing something different? Often people with many olive trees to harvest, or old groves to restore would welcome help in return for varying deals: normally think in terms of a days work in exchange for free board.  If you want help or wish to offer help you can post on the site and we will try and match opportunities with volunteers.

Use this link to find out more:
http://www.olivepicking.com/Olive-Pickers-Required.html

Hispellum Start Their Harvest





Images Copyright Azienda Agraria Hispellum

I would like to wish Azienda Agraria Hispellum very good luck as they start around a month of Olive Picking this week.  They grow their olives using biodynamic methods in the hills surrounding Spello.  This beautiful part of Italy is near to Assisi.  They grow the Moraiolo cultivar which needs picking earlier than many other varieties to produce an outstanding monocultivar oil: Terre Rosse (I love their description of a full round oil with fruity tones and a strong personality)!

Can I Come Olive Picking Without Hiring A Car?

"APE" the Italian for 'bee'

I love this APE (pronounced 'ah-pay') the Italian must have vehicle for Nonno's and Boy Racer's (yes really as you can drive one when you are only 14!!) However I digress!

A number of people have contacted me to find out whether a hire car is essential for a holiday olive picking.  The good news is that for a number of holidays you don't need to stress about driving in a strange country (and possibly also on the 'wrong' side of the road!)

If you browse through the Olive Picking Holiday Directory you will find a number of options where you can opt to travel by train and in some cases your hosts will be very happy to arrange to meet you from a nearby station (or else can arrange your connection for you).

Do watch this - it will definately make you laugh. Ahh mi piace molto!

An Olive Picking Holiday

If you have already been on an olive picking holiday you will know how special it is: the friendships, the location, the olive oil (like none you have ever tasted before), the food, the experiences ...

Now is the perfect time to book your holiday with an excellent range of options - a weekend or a week, picking for several days, or just an hour to get a feel of things.  Browse the main www.OlivePicking.com website for ideas, but whatever you do make sure this is on your lifetime 101 list, I personally promise you won't be disappointed. Many of our holidays are offered at excellent rates and by booking now you will benefit from cheap air travel and car hire.

If you aren't sure where to go or which holiday would suit you best please email me on admin@olivepicking.com and I will be happy to help. The main thing is just to DO IT!!

The World's Most Expensive Olive Oil

Lambda Olive Oil

Sitting here thinking about the depressing financial state of the economy at the moment I got to wondering about which is the world's most expensive olive oil. It would appear that the answer is an oil from the Kritsa region of Crete.

Lambda is an intensely fruity oil with a very low acidity. Made from Koroneiki olives that are cold pressed within 8 hours of picking, the resulting oil is poured into specially designed flasks and then stoppered with a silicone cork, all this is done by hand to create oil of the finest quality - marketed as the world's first luxury olive oil.

If you want to sample some for yourself you need to dig deep into your wallet - the price is around 150 euros per litre! If this isn't quite impressive enough you can pay more to have your signature engraved on the bottle, quite a bit more actually - this will set you back over 10,000 euros!! More information is available from the Sperion Company.