Gardening with Gael - The good oil on olives

 

This month, 20 years ago, Box and I went to Greece to work on an Island called Argironisis or Silver Island which is situated north of the Island of Evia  near the Sporades group. A friend of ours was the manager of the island at the time and she employed me as the cook and Box as the person in charge of the beach and water activities.

Argironisis is a privately owned island with traditional white washed buildings, a church and a lighthouse all beautifully situated looking out to sea. Steep windy roads lead down from the buildings through olive trees to the beaches below. Before we left Annie, our friend, sent us articles and pictures of the island. Olive trees were not the common sight here in New Zealand that they are now. The only olives we were familiar with were the huge old olive trees growing in Cornwall Park in Auckland. There were 60 acres of them on the island and fortunately they had all been pruned.

Since then, our local landscape has changed remarkably. Back in the 80s I don’t remember any local olive trees at all. Now, a drive in any direction from the village and large plantings of olives are a feature of the landscape. Up at the Block we have three heavily laden trees. Box can’t remember the variety but he thinks they might be J5s. 

Don and Teresa of Echo Valley Olives feature their olives at the market every Saturday. Teresa has a variety of olives to sample and also offers a great vinaigrette made with their olive oil and honey. She has also branched into olive oil skin products. Their main varieties are Frantoio and  Koroneiki. Teresa’s ancestors made olive oil in the far North in the 1920s From their J5 trees Don and Teresa make an oil they call Mareno because they believe the J5s were propagated from the trees of Mareno Lunjevich, Teresa’s ancestor.

Along Cove Rd Dave and Janet Prankerd have planted 1,200 trees. Dave highly recommends Frantoio as a variety.

“They are a great performer, and I love the flavour,” he says.” Vigorous and resilient they also seem immune to fungal diseases.”

“Our trees need a good prune,” I told Dave. “When should we do it?”

Dave recommended pruning after the crop has finished. A severe pruning can have an impact on the crop the following year. The yield this year is exceptionally high all the growers told me.

Te Arai Olives use only olives grown on their property which is known as a ‘single  estate’. Their trees are predominately Frantroio, Leccino and Pendolino. They have a blend ‘Motutira’ which they market from their property through the internet at tearaiolives.co.nz and selected retail outlets. I know Kaiwaka Cheese Shop has their oil. Over the years they have won many international awards.

I am about to start collecting our olives, not for the oil but for the table. Last year I soaked them in a brine for what seemed like months.

On the island we had a recipe for table olives and last year I dug it out and used it. I left the olives for months and the result is far better than I anticipated. I was well over the bowls of soaking olives by the end, as, I suspect, was Box. The result, however, has made it  worth doing all over again this year.

Annie says that on Argironisis they soaked the olives in plain water till the bitterness went, changing the water every day. Then, according to the old Argironisis recipe, the brine is salty enough to float a fresh egg!

 

Gael’s olives * Prick the olives and soak in a brine made of water and natural salt. Change the brine every day until the bitterness leaves the olives. This can be weeks. * Place in a jar. Insert thin slices of lemon peel, orange peel, garlic bulbs, dill and bay leaves throughout the olives. Red chillies are an optional extra. * Cover about two thirds with the brine and top with some good quality olive oil. Leave to marinate, the longer the better.

HARVEST: This year has seen a good yield for local olive growers and producers.

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