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With spring and summer we prefer the consumption of light, simple but nutritious products such as rice salads, cold pasta and mixed salads. We usually have picnic outside, we organize open-air aperitifs in the garden or on the terrace of our house. In preparing an aperitif or a snack with friends, the ingredient we immediately think of and that is never lacking are the olives.

But how many calories do olives have? Their nutritional value is particularly precious. Olives have very few calories, the average value for 30 g of green or black olives ranges from 50 to 60 kcal. Olives contain antioxidants (polyphenols, beta-carotene, vitamin E) and are a source of iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, fiber, vegetable proteins and “good” fats (monounsaturated): http://www.madamaoliva.it/en/well-being/.

For who wish to deepen the subject more, Prof. Maurizio Servili of the “Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences” of the University of Perugia, has carried out some studies which shows that the fruit of the olive contains high concentrations of phenolic compounds and is a source of bioactive molecules (https://bit.ly/2r493o2).
Prof.Servili also claims that oil is a millennium fruit of unique and unrepeatable properties and compositional resources. (Source: https://bit.ly/2Fjc6Nr). In fact, we can think of bread and olives, a simple and historical food.

That’s why the olives are part of a healthy daily menu and perfectly match with all the appetizers and the fresh and light seasonal dishes.

Here for the preparation of your aperitifs with olives: http://www.fruttoditalia.it/en/recipes/aperitifs.

This year we confirm our participation at Cibus, the international food fair aimed at professional operators, which will take place at the Parma Fair from 7 to 10 May. An event that has always been a point of reference for the Italian agri-food sector enriched by a vast collateral program in the food and retail sector. For the occasion, in addition to the consolidated lines, we will present the new packaging of the snack line: pitted green olives, spiced pitted olives, lupins and shelled lupins in a 30 g format.

Pruning is essential to olive production. If not carried out properly, it can affect the health of the trees and their fruits.

Depending on the time of the year, weather conditions and age of the tree, there are three different types of pruning.

Winter pruning takes place between January and March, when the trees are in a period of vegetative rest, to strengthen them, allow them to produce more fruit and remove any dead branches.

Summer pruning, carried out between April and July, normally aims at perfecting the olive tree, removing branches, new shoots from the base (branches on the trunk or at the foot of the tree) and any fruitless shoots that grow vertically, which have a lighter bark compared to the branches with fruit. In the north of Italy, this period coincides with the regular pruning period.

The third type of pruning is the extraordinary trimming required to remove any diseases that may be affecting the trees.

As mentioned, the best time to prune olive trees depends on geographic and climatic factors.

In the south of Italy, the best time is in winter, between January and March; in the north of Italy, it is safer to postpone pruning until after March, because drops in temperature and late freezing can damage recently pruned trees.

Taking good care of olive trees and their fruits requires knowledge of the multiple factors that affect their balance, health and productivity.

Whether the trees grow in an olive grove or in a garden, they must be properly pruned in order to obtain the best quality of the precious fruits, or simply to have a beautiful-looking olive tree in the garden.

Madama Oliva was been protagonist of italian tv show “Ricette all’italiana” on Rete 4 in which Angelo Mancini, Madama Oliva’s founder, was interviewed from Michela Coppa about the most important italian and greek olives that he exports to the five Continents.

Watch the video here.

All ready to harvest olives, with rakes, sheets, nets and the enthusiasm of sharing these moments of passion for this thousand-year-old fruit that became sacred thanks to the goddess Athena.

As soon as they are picked, olives are bitter and to be eaten they need to go through a debittering process. The industry’s procedure is carried out through different stages and with different equipment, but the home method, the “farmer’s method”, can be done even by the less experienced, using simple water or with caustic soda. The first method requires more time, but is suitable for whole and crushed olives, whether they have superficial defects or not.

The second method, using caustic soda, is quicker but requires more supervision and can only be used if the olives are undamaged. With this method, olives cannot be tasted during the process.

Debittering in simple water (Castelvetrano type)

The olives must be placed in a container and completely submerged in water. The water, which will gradually absorb the bitterness, must be changed twice per day for at least 15 days.

Crushed olives, will require just 5 days.

With this method, you can check the bitterness during the process by tasting the olives, until they reach the desired taste.

Ingredients:

Olives 1 kg

Enough water to cover the olives completely

Debittering with caustic soda (Seville type)

Pour the water in a container, add the caustic soda and stir until it has completely dissolved. Once the solution has cooled off, add the cleaned and washed olives.

Keep them completely submerged and covered with a cotton cloth. Leave them in the solution for 8-10 hours, stirring them from time to time. Rinse them 3/4 times to get rid of the soda.

Ingredients:

Olives 1 kg

Enough water to cover the olives completely

20 g of soda for every litre of water

Pickling in brine:

First brine:

In a pot, boil water and salt for a few minutes: 120 g of salt per 1.5 litres of water. Take the pot off the heat and wait for the brine to cool off completely.

Put the olives in a big jar submersed in the brine. Close the jar and store it in the dark for a month. Do not tighten the jar lid completely, in order to allow some of the brine to come out, as it ferments.

Second brine:

This brine must be stronger than the first: for 1 kg of olives, 150 g of salt (10%) per 1.5 litres of water. Follow the process you used for the first brine and let it cool off.

Drain the olives from the first brine and put them back in the jar with the second brine. Close the jar and store it in the dark for a month.

Third brine:

This time the brine will be lighter (6% of salt).

For 1 kg of olives, 90 g of salt per 1.5 litres of water.

Once the brine has cooled off, drain the olives from the second brine and put them in little jars. Cover them completely with the third brine and store them in the dark. They will be ready to eat in no sooner than one month.

After this process, the olives are ready to eat. If you have never tried our “Madama Oliva” products, we invite you to do so, savouring their aroma and taste, and share with us your experiences, anecdotes and this great passion.