EVOO 2013

I wrote about the frantoi aperti before but being here in Umbria in fall means being immersed in olives, oil, catching nets, trees, rastrelli (rakes), coffins and more often than not you´ll see people in stained working clothes. There´s simply no way to avoid it.

Almost every village has its frantoio, the mill, where the local famers have their olives pressed and while waiting, have a bruschetta from the fire to taste the olio novello.

(c) Monteolivo

(c) Monteolivo

Once a year, to show the less fortunate how the process from growing olives to picking them and turn them into this liquid gold proceeds, the frantoi aperti (open mills) are organized. You can visit olive groves, see the inside of the mills, taste and buy the new oil and related products.

(c) Monteolivo

The easiest way is to subscribe to an organized guided tour by bus and get a completely organized tour, but you can also make your own choice and pick one or two frantoi. For the last three years, I went to Trevi and visited the Frantoio Olio di Trevi, for they really know how to throw a party.

(c) Monteolivo

Inside you can visit the factory, see and hear how the machines run and how the oil is canned or bottled. 

There´s also a video running to show you the whole aforementioned process and some impressive, ancient used tools can be admired.

(c) Monteolivo

There´s a small trattoria to have a wine or a small dish at really acceptable prizes and think about the purchases you´ll make because the new oil is sold in the small shop in the front. You can buy different types of oil, olio famiglia, filtered or not, seasoned oil, olio delicato, several products made with olive oil, you name it. I wrote about that before.

(c) Monteolivo

(c) Monteolivo

Outside it´s always fun. I had a bruschetta again and admired the cheese and sausages that were sold.

(c) Monteolivo

I talked to some people who also enjoyed the atmosphere and the music played by Alter Ego and had a lot to say about olives, but we agreed on one thing: this is EVOO* and it deserves all four capitals.

(c) Monteolivo

When you have the opportunity: you can still go there today, or at least grab the chance next year.

Like I said, there's simply no way to avoid it...... because this is what we do in Umbria.

(c) Monteolivo

* Extra Vergine Olio di Oliva

Trevi - terrific oil

It´s about time to pay the debt I collected in March. The perfect time to write part I about a place that I have visited for the first time in Novembre 2012 for the Frantoi Aperti:

Olio Trevi il Frantoio.

Even though I pick my own olives and therefor have my own EVOO – Extra Vergine Olive Oil – and have written about it more than once, it strikes me everytime I realize that this heartwarming experience is so unknown to people outside of Italy. 

They know about olive oil, of course, but there´s a difference between knowing something and living something. The Umbrian people live their olives.

As I told you before I have stayed at Trevi for ten years and had a wonderful time. Even after having moved to the Todi area and fallen in love with it desperately, I visit Trevi every time I am in Umbria. The very view of the village, glued against the Monte Serano, will make you want to climb its alleys and discover what´s inside.

(c) Umbriaverde.it

Just outside Trevi you can find the Frantoio, but it´s more than just a factory selling olive oil. Visiting it during the Frantoi Aperti was an event I am planning to repeat, for it was really big fun. Click here to read about it and see what you too can find too.

After this I kept thinking about a way to get people acquainted to the fluid gold I love so much and let them taste a great oil over a merely good one. That brought me to Olio Trevi Il Frantoio again.

The smell when you step inside will make you hungry and greedy on the spot.

You will get a view of the way they turn the small blue and green marbles into the oil that makes every meal a party and that will change an ordinary slice of bread into a dream you don´t want to wake up from.

And there´s more. Besides various types of plain olive oil, Olio Trevi il Frantoio sells several sorts of seasoned oil. I mention peperoncino (peppers), basil, lemon, anice, oregano and rosemary.

To continue, try an olive paste or the one with porcini, name it and it´s there. Their oil is even used for delicate cosmetics.

It´s all sold in the little shop at the factory and the only warning that I have to give you, is that it all looks so lovely that it will be hard to choose.

To learn more, there´s an excellent website you can check. Or...

wait for my part II.. because I have a few things you can actually taste. To be continued!