THE HARVEST OF THE OLIVES
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Many of us don’t know anything anymore about farm work and just know most of our daily consumed food already packed in tins, cans and glasses, which are bought in the supermarkets. But do you know how it is grown? What aspects and which needs have the original plants? Do you know how to prepare these products using traditional methods? We want to show you with a product that is almost already a symbol of our country and consumed by most of the Spanish population every day – the table olives. After a breakfast we go to the finca “Casa Guajar" where we will spend the morning with their owners, who are called – quite obviously as we are here in Southern Spain – Paqui and Pepe. We first make a tour through the cultivations of the finca, during which Paqui tells us everything there is to know about olive trees – their history, who introduced them to the Iberian Peninsula, its culture, everything about the climate in which they grow, all about their care throughout the year, their needs, annual pruning, its reproduction, the different types of olives, the different ways of harvesting the olives depending on the purposes and their various uses,… We assure you that you will discover a new and very interesting world. |
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Then we will show you how the olives are collected and selected since centuries in order to prepare the table olives and we will participate actively in the olive harvest “by hand”, which begins as early as September. The technique did not really change since immemorial times and follows the same pattern, using the same tools. After tasting olives in different dressings and some more theoretical explanations about “Smashed” olives, “cut” olives and “whole” olives, the different ways of their preparations and their possible times of storage, we are going to work a bit more. Under the constant observation and according to the experiences of Paqui we will pickle olives on our own. As the water of the brine has to be changed several times and the olives take some time to get the desired taste you cannot take back home with you the olives you seasoned that day, but you will receive a glass of the finished product (which was elaborated in exactly the same way) as souvenir, together with the “recipe”, i.e. the written explanations, so you can repeat the experience at home at any time. The total activity takes a little over 2 hours and is usually combined with a lunch based on typical local dishes and the visit of the village of Monda before returning to the coast. This activity can be offered only from September to maximum November - which is the time of collection of the table olives. |
