Where olive oil is a family affair
March 23, 2003 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Liguria region, Italy—- Outside Liguria, the Apennine Mountains jut up abruptly, bringing transportation to a crawl. When they fall into the Mediterranean on their southern side, it is just as sharp a drop. How someone looked at these mountains and valleys and said, “I see countless terraces covered with olive trees,” is difficult to imagine.
In contrast with the olive groves in the forever rolling hills of Spain, this is what Ligurians have to work with. Many years later, however, our palates give thanks: Ligurian olive oil is some of Italy’s lightest and finest.
Much of the magic lies in the taggiasca olive, the purple-green wonder responsible for creating the oil. Paired with simple Ligurian cuisine, the taggiasca creates beautiful harmonies, underlining lighter fare such as grilled fish or vegetables, or as part of a vinaigrette or a divine pesto.
Creating high-quality olive oil in Liguria is certainly a family affair.
To see the November-February harvest in action, Alessandro Anfosso takes me up into the olive groves to meet his father, the baron in the trees.
“Papa! Papa!” he calls out. Nothing.
We run up the hill looking for the 73-year-old and pass a goatherd and her tiny flock, but no papa.
Finally Papa appears in a tree, pruning branches and looking as if he’s stepped out of the pages of an Italo Calvino novel.
Davide Anfosso’s hands are like worn leather and his face is wrinkled. He wears burlap pants with a hatchet tucked into his belt. Giant tufts of hair grow from his ears. He floats through the trees with the confidence of a 9-year-old.
This is the man you want harvesting your olives.
“I’ve had an open-air office for 55 years—- I can’t complain,” he shouts down.
Farther up the hill, we hear a “witcha, withcha, witcha” noise and find more men shaking olives out of the trees using long sticks. The olives fall onto nets that cover acres of ground and are scooped by hand into plastic tubs.
To best understand the process of making the oil, visit the nearby Bronda or Sommariva families. Their “shops” are tiny and bursting with the wonderful smell of the oil; their minuscule production area is in plain sight. Bronda, it turns out, sells most of its oil to locals who stop by, shoot the breeze and fill a big plastic jug with oil before they go on their way.
The seventh generation of olive oil producers in the town of Vendone, brothers Andrea and Davide Bronda explain how the oil is created.
Harvested olives are poured into a metal bucket with water swirling through it; they get a high-speed washing before jigging their way down a slotted ramp that removes leftover leaves and stems. The olives roll directly into what Davide simply calls la macchina, or the mill, for a pummeling of 30 minutes to an hour. Watching the mill run is perhaps the most typical and recognizable part of the process in which two offset granite wheels roll in circles atop a third horizontal wheel, creating a chunky paste.
The paste then passes into “la gramola” or “gramolatrice,” a series of spiraling arms that render the paste even finer before passing it on to a two-step centrifuge process that separates first the solids then other liquids before yielding the unfiltered chartreuse beauty called “mosta”—- the oil.
Agostino Sommariva and his sister Mina, who head Sommariva olive oil, reveal a few tricks of the trade—- between dodging the ever-present three-wheeled Vespa trucks, with Agostino returning waves to everyone in town like he’s the mayor, and blasting “New York, New York” on the car stereo (“I start every day with Frank Sinatra!”).
“One of the most important parts of the process is pressing the olives immediately after harvesting them,” explains Mina. “If you let them sit too long [more than a day], the acidity goes up and the taste is no good.”
Not all the producers follow the same process: Anfosso uses the traditional “fiscola,” a series of circular mats (once cotton, now nylon) that are coated with the milled paste, then stacked on a spindle, then crushed with a hydraulic system that renders la gramola and the first centrifuge obsolete.
Producers Abbo and Costa dei Rosmarini are forsaking the mill for the frangitore a martelli, a slightly-bigger-than-a-breadbox machine that crushes a slow stream of olives with a series of tiny hammers.
At the old Abbo family mill in Ventimiglia, Isabelle Abbo and her brother Giovanni go over what to look for in the oil. The process is similar to wine tasting.
“Compared to wine, it’s a bit harder to explain the quality of oil, because it’s a condiment—- you always eat it with something else. Luckily, I like to eat,” says Giovanni.
The tasting is divided into three parts: aroma, taste and appearance. Giovanni pours a finger of oil into a blue glass shaped like an inverted apple that he palms to warm the oil. This vaporizes more of the viscous liquid, a key step in the tasting process, as smell—- whether the oil is in the glass or in your mouth—- accounts for much of your ability to taste.
Giovanni pokes his nose into the glass, which channels the vapor in the right direction and reveals the typical Ligurian smells of cut grass, flowers, artichoke and olive fruit. He takes a small sip and holds it in his mouth, then, with teeth clenched and the tip of his tongue on his palate, he takes in a few sharp breaths of air (creating a loud sound not unlike a cat trying to dislodge a hairball), then breathes out through his nose.
What he’s doing is vaporizing the oil in his mouth, revealing more of the oil’s artichoke flavor, a gentle spiciness, perhaps a taste of almond and a lingering near-sweet aftertaste.
Visually, Ligurian oil tends to be a vibrant, almost chartreuse golden yellow or green (steer clear of those with brown tints); if unfiltered, cloudiness tends to mean more flavor.
Problems in the processing of oil can also be detected during the tasting. An earthy flavor can mean the olives sat for too long in the nets; a peanuty or “old butter” smell can be signs of poor storage or too much sediment.
For the timid taster, the Abbos recommend pouring the oil over a plate of steamed potatoes. Their neutral flavor won’t get in the way and the warmth brings out the oil’s flavors.
If you’re looking for more than potatoes to serve with your Ligurian oil, the rule is, keep it simple. Alessandro Anfosso grins like a little kid when he pours it over the grilled fish on his plate. Luisa Petrelli cooks up a 10-minute pasta masterpiece by heating canned diced tomatoes on the stove for a few minutes, cutting the heat and tossing in some salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, salted olives and a few healthy glugs of oil.
Rosmarini tends to buy all the olives for the oil it exports and sends them to a nearby production facility that they rent. They make up any lack in technical knowledge by pulling in a hired-gun adviser, along with paying dearly for the best possible olives. It’s a more piecemeal process, but the end result is worth the high price of their recent entry into the business.
Making top-quality olive oil in Liguria is a mix of family and tradition, quality and slow modernization.
“Every region in Italy has good oil,” concludes Agostino Sommariva, “and Ligurian oil is known for its sweet, non-overpowering flavor.”
IF YOU GO
Getting there
Air France and Delta are among the airlines providing service to Genoa’s Cristoforo Colombo airport. You’ll need a car to reach each of the olive oil producers, which are about 20 minutes to an hour from Genoa.
The olive oil producers
The producers are open year-round to visit, with varying hours or visits by appointment. Call before you go.
Sommariva: 011-39-01-82-559222, www.oliosommarivo.it.
Abbo: 011-39-01-75-211012, www.olioabbo.it.
Bronda: 011-39-01-82-76253.
Anfosso: 011-39-01-83-52418, www.olioanfosso.it (Italian only).
Rosmarini: 011-39-02-86-453377, www.rosmarinofarm.com.
Where to stay
Perhaps one of the most interesting places to stay in Liguria, and an excellent base for your travels, is in the tiny refurbished medieval burg of Colletta di Castelbianco. Prices depend on season. Information: www.colletta.it, 011-39-01-31-252471; e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Luisa Petrelli is in the process of opening a romantic bed-and-breakfast at Rosmarino Farm in the town of Rosmarino. Call for prices: 011-39-02-86-453377.
In the small city of Ventimiglia, close to the Abbo and Anfosso groves, are Sole Mare, 011-39-01-84-351854, double room and breakfast, 80-110 euros ($88-$121); and Seagull, 011-39-01-84-351726, double room and breakfast, 82-105 euros ($90-$115).
Where to eat
Whether inland or along the sea, Liguria boasts scores of excellent, reasonably priced restaurants and cafes.
Trattoria Il Pescatore, in the coastal town of Laigueglia, run by fisherman (and old Italian car collector) Michele Parisano gets top marks. Reasonably priced, typical and outstanding seafood dishes. Piazza Garibaldi. 011-39-01-82-690124.
Ristorante da Daniele in Ventimiglia has excellent seasonal dishes. Lungomare Varaldo No. 2. 011-39-01-84-295275.
Colletta di Castelbianco also hosts a cafe and restaurant as well as being near other excellent restaurants.
Trattoria L’Alpino, a family-style restaurant that’s near the Bronda family in Vendone. Excellent for local specialties and the occasional table full of impromptu singers. Via Provincale. 011-39-01-82-76435.
Information
Liguria Tourism Office: www.turismo.liguriainrete.it (click on the British flag).
U.S. SOURCES FOR LIGURIAN OLIVE OIL
Sommariva: www.rogersintl.com (the best deal among U.S. availability for the five producers); and under the name Ritz Escoffier Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, Unfiltered at www.nextdaygourmet.com.
Abbo: www.hypergourmet.com.
Bronda: Olives in oil and olives in brine available at www.purelyorganic.com;oil available on same site at end of March.
Anfosso: www.e-italianfoods.com.
Rosmarini: www.deananddeluca.com.
