5.30 am on our last day in Florence i find my self staring quite blankly at the ceiling in the bedroom of our Tuscan apartment. Was it anticipation that we would be going home soon keeping me awake? was it my body clock setting in overdrive at the thought of returning to work or maybe it was just that the grappa shot we had before bed last night was kicking in and sending energetically charged impulses around my body. Which ever, i gingerly stepped out of bed ( trying not to have a slight wobble in my stance) finding it impossible to lie there when my brain was in overdrive. I was having and urge, a necessity to tell you all about my culinary adventures, repeating 5 days worth of foodie memories over and over in my head.
Feeling unable to stomach (for the first time since i don't know when) my usual breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt i opted for a glass of hot water and lemon in an attempt at some sort of detox, knowing that ahead of me stood an olive oil tour that we were attending which possibly may involve tasting lashings of the golden oil on top of some freshly baked Tuscan toasted bread.
As with all food/ wine based tours i try to look willingly interested when the guide is repeating his well rehearsed speech on how these products are made, not wanting to look as though all i have come for is the free tasters at the end.
However, the olive oil tour that we were attending took place on the farm where our apartment was situated - Fattoria Torre Rossa -http://www.torrerossa.com/ ( an absolute must place to stay if your wanting to tour Florence and the Chianti wine region).
Instead of listening to someone who hurriedly lists of a number of facts and figures for the twentieth time that day, our guide took her time in enchanting R and myself into the whole production of their extra virgin olive oil. She obviously held a great passion inside her which flowed through her voice making it impossible to loose interest in what she was saying.
A tradition that has been with the family for many years is still lovingly repeated today. Each November a group of workers come from the south of Italy ( where the oil is not of as such a good standard) and stay at the farm until all the olives have been tenderly scraped from their leaves and caught in a giant net which surrounds the trees. With there being nearly 4000 trees on their land it normally takes just over a month, depending on how abundant the harvest is. Having so many olive trees you would think that they would never be short of oil, but in fact a single olive can only contain 15% oil and 85% water, this can change to as little as 5% oil if the weather for that particular year has not been good enough for the precious olive trees.
A process then begins of storing , chopping the olives three times then finally going under a press to release the final juices which is then filtered to separate the oil from the water.
Sadly due to EU laws the machinery she showed us is now redundant, along with the huge terracotta pots specially made to store the oil in ( the terracotta allows the oil to breath and remain at the same temperature).
I had almost forgotten that we were to taste this precious liquid until our guide started to explain the rules and vigorous procedures into tasting the oil. Once handed a half filled cup we were to hold one nostril down and quite strongly breath in the aromas with the free nostril. On doing so i could definitely smell the grassy undertones which she had explained would come through, but then i was getting an overwhelming smell of just picked raspberries, as i told her what i could smell ( feeling a bit of a twit for smelling something sweet in olive oil), a look of shock covered her face - ' Really? You can really smell something sweet? Then i think you have found a plan B in your life as only the highest regarded tasters of the world can smell and taste the sweetness in the oil' . Plan B i thought to myself, more like a plan A! Feeling quite smug with myself i glanced over to R only to see his face contorted with a look that was saying ' you have to be kidding me - as if you can smell that' . Obviously jealous of my highly graded nostrils he then proceeded to tease me as we continued the tasting, my natural god given talents are waisted on him
Feeling unable to stomach (for the first time since i don't know when) my usual breakfast of fresh fruit and yogurt i opted for a glass of hot water and lemon in an attempt at some sort of detox, knowing that ahead of me stood an olive oil tour that we were attending which possibly may involve tasting lashings of the golden oil on top of some freshly baked Tuscan toasted bread.
As with all food/ wine based tours i try to look willingly interested when the guide is repeating his well rehearsed speech on how these products are made, not wanting to look as though all i have come for is the free tasters at the end.
However, the olive oil tour that we were attending took place on the farm where our apartment was situated - Fattoria Torre Rossa -http://www.torrerossa.com/ ( an absolute must place to stay if your wanting to tour Florence and the Chianti wine region).
Instead of listening to someone who hurriedly lists of a number of facts and figures for the twentieth time that day, our guide took her time in enchanting R and myself into the whole production of their extra virgin olive oil. She obviously held a great passion inside her which flowed through her voice making it impossible to loose interest in what she was saying.
A tradition that has been with the family for many years is still lovingly repeated today. Each November a group of workers come from the south of Italy ( where the oil is not of as such a good standard) and stay at the farm until all the olives have been tenderly scraped from their leaves and caught in a giant net which surrounds the trees. With there being nearly 4000 trees on their land it normally takes just over a month, depending on how abundant the harvest is. Having so many olive trees you would think that they would never be short of oil, but in fact a single olive can only contain 15% oil and 85% water, this can change to as little as 5% oil if the weather for that particular year has not been good enough for the precious olive trees.
A process then begins of storing , chopping the olives three times then finally going under a press to release the final juices which is then filtered to separate the oil from the water.
Sadly due to EU laws the machinery she showed us is now redundant, along with the huge terracotta pots specially made to store the oil in ( the terracotta allows the oil to breath and remain at the same temperature).
I had almost forgotten that we were to taste this precious liquid until our guide started to explain the rules and vigorous procedures into tasting the oil. Once handed a half filled cup we were to hold one nostril down and quite strongly breath in the aromas with the free nostril. On doing so i could definitely smell the grassy undertones which she had explained would come through, but then i was getting an overwhelming smell of just picked raspberries, as i told her what i could smell ( feeling a bit of a twit for smelling something sweet in olive oil), a look of shock covered her face - ' Really? You can really smell something sweet? Then i think you have found a plan B in your life as only the highest regarded tasters of the world can smell and taste the sweetness in the oil' . Plan B i thought to myself, more like a plan A! Feeling quite smug with myself i glanced over to R only to see his face contorted with a look that was saying ' you have to be kidding me - as if you can smell that' . Obviously jealous of my highly graded nostrils he then proceeded to tease me as we continued the tasting, my natural god given talents are waisted on him
Really enjoying reading all about your holiday! It's bringing back lots of memories of a similar trip we took last year... I'm itching to book another now!
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