The olive tree and the oil: cornerstone of the Apulian cuisine
An ancient tradition, which enhances one of the most precious assets of Puglia: the olive tree
The olive tree characterizes the Apulian landscape in a decisive way. Imposing olive trees alternate everywhere, on the hills or on the coast, many of which represent fantastic creations that nature has developed over the centuries. And it is no wonder that Greeks and Romans considered olive groves sacred.
The Salento landscape is completely different from that of central-northern Puglia: the olive groves resemble well-kept parks and are particularly inviting for walks.
Looking at them, paintings by painters of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries come to mind, where mischievous games are represented that take place under the shady branches of olive trees.
All this can attract, delight, move poets, writers, painters, photographers. But we are interested in the fruit of the olive tree: the olive.
Puglia is the land of oil, its glory and its pride, the pain of its people.
Andria the major producer, Bitonto the superfine oil. A cultivable area of about 400,000 hectares, an average annual harvest of 11 million quintals of olives and two and a half million quintals of oil, the region with the greatest oil production.
The method of harvesting the olives is, together with the choice of varieties, which are many, the factor that most influences the characteristics of the oil which in Puglia is of the highest quality and of extraordinary organoleptic qualities.
Alongside the olives for the production of Apulian oil, in demand all over the world, there are table olives, which allow for a variety of delicacies for the kitchen: Beautiful Cerignola olive And Giant of Spain in Capitanata, St. Augustine in Terra di Bari, the sweet and tasty Posola in Salento.
Last but not least, Apulian oil is required as an ingredient in many recipes of naturalist medicine; used both internally and externally, it serves as a support in the process of various healings.
«If the olive tree has conquered and conquers the world of men – writes Lino Angiuli – it is not only thanks to its fruit used in a thousand ways; …it is also its symbolic value, its anthropomorphic physiognomy, its being a living monument, which makes it leave the mills to take root even in the page of a poet or in the canvas of a painter.»
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Supporting Subheading
L'oil
In the trappeto, in a corner is the hearth that keeps the heat,
above, the logs are always lit,
over low heat cooks the pot filled with beans, fava beans and «gangali», «mochi»,
«cicerchie»… a handful of salt,
and when cooked, two "leaves mixed" or two cabbages with "strascinati".
The best oil is produced in Bitonto
and in the whole world it does not fear comparisons;
when you taste it you feel vigorous and refresh your heart and brain.
(translated by Michele Muschitiello di Bitonto)
I report some tannings of olives, which are unknown in other regions.
Olives in Serbian
To preserve them for a long time, they are first dried in the sun and then placed, pressing them, in a clay vase, sprinkled with fine salt, aniseed or fennel seeds.
Olives with salt
Harvested olives, variety posole and the casseroles Salento, they are washed, seasoned with salt, after having placed them in a clay container or in a large dish or tray; must be turned daily.
Roasted olives
Those large and perfectly ripe and sweet are roasted under the embers. It's the peasants' snack at early twilight.
Fried olives
Variety olives apples (superfine those of Bitetto), pulpy and sweet are fried in a little oil. Once upon a time they were prepared with cooked must.
Lime olives
The best variety is that pacifiers. They are harvested greens and placed in wooden tubs. For every 4 kg of olives, 1,700 kg of quicklime and 3 kg of oak ash are taken and dissolved in the water in which the olives will be macerated.
Left to rest for a day, they are removed from the water and washed with fresh water every now and then for 2-3 days. Then they are passed into tubs and fresh water in which about 100 g of salt, fennel seeds, bay leaves or myrtle sprigs are poured
Common tanning throughout Puglia. In the Bari area the variety used is the apples and the preparation gives results of singular delicacy, aped by companies from other regions without result!
The tanning in other Apulian provinces of the varieties is good posola, pizzulélla, limoncella, celline.
Select the green olives, put them in a large clay pot (capase) and cover them with water. Daily, for a month, change the water. In the amount of water containing the olives, after having measured it, add salt (100 g for 1 kg of olives), bay leaves and boil the water two or three times in a cauldron on the fire. Allow the water to cool and pour it into the jar containing the olives. Add two or three lemon wedges, a sprig of myrtle and several sprigs with bay leaves. After four-five months they are ready; do not grind them with your hands, but take them with a ladle.
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via Ammiraglio Millo, 9 (Alberobello – Bari)
info@ailovetourism.com
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