About Olive Trees

• The ideal sole for olive tree is the argillaceous one; but this kind of tree grows everywhere; my grandfather and father had a very large planting in north Africa, Libya, on the arid sand; and I personally saw still good millenary planting among (but it is more exact to say "in") the rocks in the dry Spain.That means a minimum average annual rainfall is not necessarily required .
  This olive tree is more than 2.500 years old and grows in Fornalutx, Mallorca island; the man you see inside it, Ing. August Schneider, is my father in law; he is still under age being only 96 years old; but is doing his best not to be less! Please use your mouse to enlarge the picture

• Irrigation: today, of course, it's possible to use trickle irrigation. Many farmers use it. I don't , for many reasons: the above mentioned fathers experiences; olives for oil producing must be dry; if you give water once then you must give it always. There may be, perhaps, convenience if you produce olives for bottling: the larger they are, the richer is the harvest! But I can assure you that olive trees fruit well, anyway, after three, four years they are planted.

• Weather: we already accertained the olive's tree resistance to hot weather. But what about frost?
  Olive trees are relatively affected by frost; they don't support too cold temperatures; by too cold I mean -20, -30 degrees centigrades. This winter was a hard one in Italy; we had minus 10 degrees centigrades but we had no damage at all. In 1985 we had a catastrophic winter, 28° centigrades below zero and most of the trees were destroyed. But careful: their roots never ( or very seldom) die and they throw new good suckers !! It's therefore very important to plant scion trees so you will never need to graft them again.

• The plant must be very young, one, better two years old (that means 13/25 months). The cost is lower, the taking of root surer and the growing is faster. At this proposal consider that only two plants of mine died in the meantime.... one of them caused by a wild boar that bared its root !!!

• Planting way : the graphic shows the most rational, modern way of planting.The ground must be broken for a meter, not less; the trees must distance exactly 6 meters one from another; and the soil should be as plane as possible to facilitate the mechanized working process.
  The young plants must be protected with woody bolts which must be set always to north to defend the trees from the cold wind and ten centimeters of distance from the trunk. The binding must be very wide. The height of the bolts must be inferior to the height of the scaffolding because the function of the bolts must be only a support. The binding must be preferably of elastic material to avoid any nesting of harmful parasitics.

• Operation schedule : you must use a pruning shredder with a tractor twice a year to destroy the grass: in may and july. You need to hoe around the trees once a year too, in june for example, to let the plants breathe. Some urea fertilization is suggested beginning after two or three years from planting, in April.
  For planting large extensions, modern criteria require mechanized pruning (trees must be kept mono cones) every two years and mechanized harvest (hopefully every year!) .

• pruning :the ideal olive tree in Umbria does not grow as mono-cone; it has four main branches which form a sort of chest. As you can see in the picture the pruning idea is to open the tree to let the sun well lights the fruits and the foliage inside and to reduce the height of the tree to get picking operation more easy. We use to prune our trees every year: that's the best way to avoid alternate bearing. My trees have at least four branches, as I pick olives by hand with special combs.

• the choice of the trees : I have the following six different cultivars to get dop quality : moraiolo,frantoio, maurino, leccino, pendolino and coratina ;
  for best success I think you should seek for information about the quality farmers use in your neighborhood.

• birds ? No serious problem; starting for the principle that fruit is bitter, birds generally don't use to eat olives; but a flight of thrushes can strip a tree of all its fruits in only a few minutes ! It seldom happens.

• olive bottling :If you are going to privilege the olive bottling rather than oil bottling, you must consider that the sort of plant you need requires warm climate and fertile ground . The fruit is more voluminous, with scarce oil contents and it is generally destined to be dried or picked.
  Most famous ones are the olives of Greece, the Manzanillas of Spain and the Ascolane of Italy.

• manual and mechanized harvest
  • Browsing :it's the most rational method as you can send to the mill entire olives, without the presence of extraneous bodies -especially earth- that confer the oil acidity and unpleasant tastes. This method is applied with advantage in the planting with trees by low form and requires the use of fit equipments to effect a kind hair-style of the plants with fall of the fruits on synthetic nets on purpose extended around.
  • Knocking down : the harvest is effected knocking the branches with long poles of wood. The olives fall on the nets. The method is not recommended as both the olives- with consequent oil production of very bad quality- and the branches are damaged.
  • Picking up : Very diffused method either in really uncomfortable zones or when the trees are of remarkable height . The olives are picked up directly from earth after their natural fall. The harvest is effected some more or less long intervals . The product has scarce commercial value; the olives will be in fact damaged, dirty of earth and certainly afflicted by harmful fermentation processes; the harvest is not edible and must be destined to the refineries.
  • Mechanized harvest : The mechanized harvest is a valid remedy to reduce the costs of production and get esteemed oil to competitive price . Numerous types of Italian or American manufacture shaker apparatuses (like the Shock Wave Shaker) exist on the market. These apparatuses are generally climbed on 70-80 HP tractors; they are hooked to the plants by different types and forms of pliers or rubber rolls and they engrave to the plants and to the fruits pendulum like or rotatory movements. The movements are brief and violent: so much that the drupes are easily detached from the trees and fall in the underlying nets. The process of the harvest is generally completed with use of aspirator apparatuses.
    It's also possible to resort to new "soft" olive picking machines , also suitable for walnuts, almonds, pistachios and coffee. They looks easy and efficient in picking operations and assure quality and integrity of fruits, safety for trees, return on investment for farmers. Their articulated lifting equipment with independent and tilting support allows no stop rotation 360° , variable length of second arm, pick-up rotation 300°, around the second arm.
    Their hydraulic plants are driven by tractor engine; they have 83 pair of brushes made in thermoplastic material. This satisfactory range of movements allows the pick-up to operate up to 8,50 mts high from earth to 4 mts depth from earth.
    Another more simple manual "soft" olive picker consists of a pneumatic comb assembled on variable length rods (from 2,50 mt to 3 mt). It's able to pick fruit to a height of 5/6 metres. It's operated by a compressor which is applied to the three points of a tractor or to a motor cultivator. It can use up 200 l/minute of air and is able to pick 10/12 q a day of olives for every operator. Thanks to the possibility of extension of air tubes, you can reach impassable zones, terrace cultivation, sleep slpes, etc, which were so far inaccessible to any mechanical means. According to the power of the compressor, from 2 to 8 olive pickers can simultaneously work.

    The following table shows the productivy's percentage according to the different picking systems :

    Fruit-detaching yards (olives' retrieval and nets' movements excluded)

    Picking systems
    	workers	Olives Kgs/h per each worker
    manual	4	17
    pneumatic comb	2	84
    "soft" olive picking machines	1	185
    shaker apparatuses	1	635

  • how to store the olivesTo get an oil of best quality it is advisable to grind the olives within brief time, maximum 1- 2 days from the harvest. But not always the oil mills are able to grind the daily delivered consignments. Therefore it can be necessary to store the olives for some more days. This is a very delicate moment, because it is necessary to prevent the natural chemical modifications that bring to an increase of the degrees of acidity and oxidation of the oil. The best conditions for the maintenance of the olives are the followings:
    • low temperature, 10 - 15 centigrade degrees;
    • low relative damp, not superior at 50 - 60%;
    • storage in thin layers with good circulation of air between the different layers.
    
    A rational system consists in the realization of layers of non superior height of 10 - 12 centimeters. Such disposition can be done on the floor or better using hurdles with looms that are to be superimposed one upon another. Such structures consent a notable economy and a better circulation of the air. Alternatively you can resort to the use of perforated plastic cassettes taking care to avoid to fill them up more than 20 - 30 cms.
    However, remember that less time you have to storage the olives, the better it is for the quality of your oil.
    The following table shows the percentage of decrement of the quality in relation of the length of the storage time:
     

    Storage Time  ( days)	Aromatic Quality	Aroma's Decrement  ( per cent )
    0	136,8	0
    6	105,4	23
    13	78,0	43
    21	66,6	51
    27	17,8	87

     
  • mill : the stone mill and cold pressing technique, as better showed in the Real movie or animated graphic, are suggested for the extraction of extra virgin olive oils .
    The leaves are firt sucked away by air fans and the olives are washed with circulating potable water to remove all impurities. The second step of extraction is crushing the olives to form a paste. The olives are collected in a crusher where the oil sacs are broken perfectly : the crushing of the pits is finely calibrated and finished with two granite millstones. The resulting paste falls into the kneading machine, with 2 stacked modules. Here the right heating temperature and the helically shaped blades ensure that the paste is processed perfectly. The heating ( about-28 degrees Celsius ) is provided by the circulation of thermostatically controlled water through the cavity in the wall of the kneading machine. The olive oil is then pumped into a separator in order to separate the oil from the water and small solid particles.
    
  • maintenance of the oil of olive : the choice of the correct container and of the correct environment is fundamental ; modern containers are made of glass or of steel (once they were made of earthenware). It must be preserved to the dark and to a mild temperature; the light favors the rancidity of the oil. The oil maintains intact the own organoleptic characteristics also after three years.
  • propagating : if you need to replace some trees you can try to propagate them from the olive trees you already have. Therefore you can use your pruning branches. According to prevailing theory it's better to use woody scions, 2-3 years old, about one inch wide, each one 8-10 inches long. After removing all the leaves you must put the branch in a horizontal way a few inches under the ground. It will germinate several lateral shorts in a few months. Each short will be a new plant.
    Someone tried also to cut a one year old olive branch, with no less of 3/4 gemmas sticking it in agri-perlite's layer; the branch should take roots in a two/three months; but it is subject to frequent nebulizations: so it's better if you have a greenhouse with sprinklers.
    In somebody's opinion the best way of propagating is directly by stones coming from very mellow olives; after you have removed grease and bathed them for a few hours in a lye (sodium carbonate or ash mixed to lime) solution, you must stratify them in the sand; the stones must then be kept in a dry room.
    Sowing is generally scheduled in June, July or August; in a cold bed preferably inside a large masonry case. It's better to crack carefully first the stones with the hammer.
    Seed germinates in about 40-50 days; as soon as plants have 4-6 leaves, on March, they will be ready to be transplanted. Grafting will be possible a year later.
    I personally tested all the above procedures but I had no satisfactory success. To sum up I have reason to believe that the best propagating way is possible using either a sucker or a low young branch directly from the tree: just cut it for a half and cover it with earth to consent a new roots developing, like grapevine.
  • grafting : most common grafting way is called "luce's beak". It is generally practiced in the late spring.
    As soon as the trunk diameter is large one centimetre the new plant is ready to be grafted. Cut it close by earth in a sloping way . Then select a healthy, vigorous, one year old scion from the sort of plant you want to reproduce; it must present at least two gemmas. Shorten the top and sharp the terminal so to insert it easily between the bark and the wood of the plant you already prepared. Cover the grafting with some mastic. Shorten the leaves. That's all.
  • adversities : sometimes the ambient causes great damages to the plants.
    It is already well known that frost and humidity attenuate the olive tree's resistance. But the farmer must fear of parasites too.
    The most common deseases are caused by two olive flies: the first one is named Prays oleellus ( tignola ); the second one is named Dacus Oleae ( mosca ). These flies put their eggs into the olive blossom and when they ripe they are full of little eggs and worms.
    At the moment I have no problems in my olive planting. I realized jus once that two new trees in my garden (they were still in pots) were afflicted by Tignola, Mosca and Occhio di pavone ( peacock-eye ) too ! To my great surprise I have checked that these deseases turned up easily because these trees were set in a very protected place.
    How to get rid of the fly problem? Since I'm testing the biological way I don't use chemicals. According to the italian rulement olive trees must be treated once a year (at least) with a "sale di rame / copper salt" solution instead of "solfato di rame / copper sulphate" solution as formerly prescribed. This change was made in 1999 because it was attested that copper sulphate is cancerous ! This treatment must be preventively done every year and it is very efficacious against peacock-eye too.

  • Sansa (pomace) : Many farmers have their own mill and personally process their olives. At the end of pressing an inevitable problem arises : how to get rid of the sansa. An Australian olive grower, Mr. Peter Caird, suggested some useful solutions.
    I quote from one of his corrispondence :
    ".... we have land located about 30kms from our factory in central Victoria (Australia) in order to let nature do the drying work for us.
    Beds will be made using sleepers as the formwork with each able to take about 5 tonne of sansa (wet). A bobcat will scurry around spreading the stuff and, come the Oz summer, we should have about 2.5-3.5 tonne of dry weight sansa ready for any number of applications.

  
  
  • A mudbrick manufacturer has already tested the material in a mix with clay. It makes a delightful brick, structurally sound, but lighter than normal.
    A house of peace on the way!
    Tests are continuing.
  
  
  • Compressing the dry sansa (or even wet with some modifications) to about 12 tonne pressure in a cylinder makes a perfectly usable "log" of firewood. It will probably need a years aging if wet sansa is used. Most likely everyone already knows that the sansa fuel burns quite intensely and almost without ash. Truly an environmentally friendly fuel that has another sensory benefit in that it gives off a delightful aromatic scent.
  • I was informed quite recently that in the States they have quite a novel use for the pits of the olives. These are produced by the 100's of tonnes over there of course. They are mixed with bitumen and then used as tarmac for roads etc. "
  • mythology : according to mythology olive tree originates from Greece.
    It is said that Minerva and Neptune contented for precedence in building up an own temple on Athens' Acropolis. So they appealed to judgment of Zeus, the first of all gods, to settle the controversy. Zeus decided he would have opted for whoever would have been most useful to mankind.
    Neptune created the horse, Minerva the olive. Zeus chose the olive which became the sacred plant to Minerva.

  Grandmother's Remedies

  • "washed" oil : a special unguent my grandmother used when I was a boy. Still valid magic ointment to your sun burnt skin or your baby's inflamed bottom !!
    Very easy to prepare:
    2 spoons of extra vergine olive oil
    1 spoon of water
    Shake these two ingredients until you get a pasty emulsion, a sort of "cream" ready to be spread on your body.
  • rough elbows : if you have rough elbows it will be sufficient to dip them in a bowl with some lukewarm olive oil (it can be used several times).They will become smooth in little time.  

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    Olive Leaf use helps people with AIDS

    Mark Konlee who writes the Keep Hope Alive site at http://www.execpc.com/~keephope/keephope.html
    introduced Olive Leaf use on his site about 2 years ago because it has natural protease inhibitors, a part of the triple-cocktail used to help people with AIDS.
    9/15/96: The headlines of Positive Health News, Report No 11 (May, 1996) said that: "An extract from Olive Leaves, containing natural "protease inhibitors' used in combination with Naltrexone, DNCB and the whole lemon/olive oil drink reduces HIV viral load form 58000 to non-detectable levels in two weeks (PCR). HIV antibody status changes from positive to negative (Elisa/Western Blot). Results confirmed by retesting"
    -- This is a quote from a newsletter he wrote concerning one person who used his protocol. Although many people using protease inhibitors have reduced HIV viral loads, not all people respond in this same way.  

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    Il vero olio d'oliva   Il segreto e' nel prodotto, nei tempi e modi della raccolta, nella lavorazione.  E' essenziale che il raccolto sia effettuato per tempo, quando le olive non sono ancora completamente mature, ma in "erba"; la polpa, allora, non risentira' dei nocivi processi di fermentazione ne sara' alterata da eventuali gelate; per essere privo di impurita', deve essere effettuato a mano.  La lavorazione va affidata a frantoi che adottano sistemi tradizionali e "a freddo"  E' sufficiente che queste poche condizioni vengano rispettate perche' l'olio presenti un tasso di acidita' molto prossimo allo zero assoluto, una colorazione verde cupo, sapore intenso con quel caratteristico "pizzicorino" che, se usato crudo,lo rende particolarmente gradevole agli estimatori veraci.  Ultime note a margine:  l'olio genuino non viene raffinato; e' percio del tutto normale la formazione di depositi sul fondo  il "pizzicorino" svanisce gradualmente entro la primavera  chiamare olio siffatto prodotto e' riduttivo; nome piu' appropiato ?  "Spremuta d'oliva"  prodotto artigianale di difficile reperimento, a costi accessibili per i soli amatori

    About Real Olive Oil The secret of real olive oil is in agricultural product, harvest's way and work time, in squeezing processing.  It's very important to pick olives at the rigth season (I do it at the end of November) : the fruit must be still "green" so the pulp will neither suffer the noxious process of fermentation nor will take offence of sudden frosts; it must be picked by hand to be absolutely clean, without impurity. Finally it is essential that your oil mill uses a traditional way of cold-working  If these few conditions are respected the acidity rate will be close to absolute zero; the oil will assume an almost dark green colour, an intense taste with a characteristic "itching" very appreciated to the true estimators when used fresh, uncooked. P.S. Real natural oil is not refined; for this reason the formation of some deposit on the bottom is normal  The "itching" is destined to gradually dissolve whitin spring  It is disparaging to call oil such a product. A more appropriate name ? Olive-squash !!  We are talking about an artisan product not easy to be found which cost is accessible only to connoisseur

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    Take your Olive Oil Tasting

    It's up to official tasters panel to determinate the goodness of the oil in a sort of numerical range according to its flavour. But there is nothing to prevent you from personally doing this test much to your delight and satisfaction. Taste is rather subjective.
    The test results will be better if you have not eaten since an hour and not smoked since thirty minutes.
    Take care to cleanse your palate with some water and a piece of bread before each tasting .

    -- put some amount of the different oils in transparent glass bowls (to better examine the colour); --swirl oil around in bowl warming it within your hands to allow the aroma in the oil be released and exalted and to evaluate its fluidity; -- inhale deeply to notice the intensity of the bouquet; --take some drops in the mouth and put softly your tongue to the palate to get first flavors; -- take a more substantial draught of oil (a teaspoon) mixing it with air to help release flavors; before swallowing keep it in your mouth for 20 seconds about to gradually enjoy the taste; -- enjoy the intensity of the aftertaste.

    Anyway, this test is not to be considered by itself sufficient to determinate the goodness of the oil because olive oil may be easily adulterated by chemistry on fatty matter.

    EEC regulation states testing of many other indicators of the chemical quality of the virgin olive oils. If these qualifications don't completely stand the tests olive oil will be classed in a different way.
    

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    Olive sotto ranno   Porre in un recipiente 2 kg di olive raccolte direttamente dalla pianta, possibilmente grandi e non ancora giunte a perfetta maturazione. Immergetele in due litri di ranno, curando che siano interamente sommerse, e lasciatele per circa 10-12 ore. Scolatele e sciacquatele a lungo in acqua fresca lasciandovele in ammollo per circa tre ore.  Ripetete queste operazioni per altre due, tre volte sino a quando cioè l'acqua dell'ammollo non risulti trasparente. Riporre le olive in un recipiente di acqua salata leggermente, secondo vostro gradimento. Otterrete olive molto dolci, tenere, dal sapore delicato. Facili a snocciolarsi. Una volta pronte devono essere consumate entro pochi giorni perchè non si mantengono a lungo. Se preferite mangiare olive più saporite che si mantengano più a lungo dovrete optare per le "olive in salamoia".

    Olives under lye Pick directly from the tree 2 kgs of still "green" olives and put them in a pot. Pour two litres of lye inside it and leave the fruit to soak in for about 10-12 hours. Drain the lye and rinse the olives. Let them soak in fresh water for three hours. Repeat this process two or three times until the soaking-water is completely transparent. Put then the fruits in a glass container full of salt water (as much salt as you like). You will get very sweet, tender, delicate olives; easy to remove the stones from. But as they do not keep for a long time they must be eaten very soon. Olives pickles will keep longer and will be more savoury.

     

    Olive in Salamoia   Raccoglire due chili di olive ben mature, lavarle e tenerle in purga in un recipiente pieno di acqua -che avrete cura di cambiare ogni tre, quattro giorni- per circa un mese. Dopo tale periodo preparare un decotto facendo bollire in due, tre litri di acqua per circa 10-15 minuti i seguenti ingredienti: 5 gr di chiodi di garofano, 1 stecca di cannella, un cucchiaio di pepe nero in grani, 3/4 spicchi di aglio, 5/6 foglie di alloro, 1 scorza di limone e 1 di arancio, 1 peperoncino fresco, sale quanto basta. Una volta raffreddato, versare il decotto con tutti gli ingredienti in barattoli muniti di tappo ove avrete già avuto cura di riporre le olive ben lavate e sciacquate. Se il liquido non basta potrete aggiungere acqua bollita con sale. Dopo circa due, tre mesi avrete pronte le cosidette "olive indolcite" .

    Olives Pickles Pick 2 kgs of mellow olives; wash and leave them to soak for a month in a pot full of water. Change the water every three, four days. After this period prepare an infusion boiling the following ingredients in two, three liters of water for 15 minutes about:  5 gr of cloves, 1 cinnamon' slat, 1 spoon of peppercorns, 3/4 cloves of garlic, 5/6 laurel leaves, 1 lemon-peel and 1 orange-peel, 1 fresh red chilli, as much salt as you like. Wash and rinse the olives, put them into glass recipients and pour the cold infusion inside, then cork the pots. If the infusion you prepared is not enough you can add some boiled salt-water.  After two, three months you will get "sweet olives".

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    Copyright © 1996/2003 Antonio Giannò
    This Home Page was created on 14 February 1996 
    Most recent revision Monday 17 March 2003