The Olives are In!
What’s my favorite late fall day? The day or two when we pick our olives or the day the olio novello comes back from the mill? In every Umbrian farmhouse, stainless steel cannisters now hold every farm’s cold-pressed, recently-milled olive oil. Lift the lid, put your nose in…and ah…the fruity pungent smell of the olio nuovo carries you away. It’s hard to think of a dish here not enhanced by this italianissimo condiment. Our farm women neighbors even use it in the place of butter in tasty moist cakes. Olive oil stars as king of the Mediterranean diet, now UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Intangible. Over 50,000 acres of Umbrian farmland are given over to cultivation of our “liquid gold” but – mamma mia! – production is down this year.
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