Olive time in the Algarve

November 23, 2016

Not everyone likes them, but it is not indispensable to the Portuguese; The Olive! Each family in the countryside has a number of olive trees. Olive trees grow very well in the warm climate of the Algarve; you do not need to water them and once a year in model pruning is enough.Autumn has already arrived and so it is time to harvest the olives, after which they are potted or pressed for oil. For the better oil the olives are picked by hand, but that is a rather time-consuming. Modern shakers, shaking the tree after which the fruits naturally fall, not be used in older olive trees, because they damage the roots.

First one puts large canvases around the tree to collect the olives. Next, swinging a stick the olives from the tree, sometimes daredevil removed should be on a ladder. Then taking, collecting and bagging or baskets. Olives which have fallen from the tree, are not used, which are to mature. They collect the olives in tubs or bags and take them to'Lagar', the olive press, which allowed presses the olives into oil. For one liter of oil is 5-10 kilos of olives necessary. Ready while you wait. In most 'Lagares' you can also buy olive oil. But olives food is also delicious! The pickling of olives is an ancient process, it takes some time, but is well worth it. After picking, they must be bruised. This happens, for example by hitting the bottom of a glass jar on the olive. One first lays down a cutting board and then the olive. After bruising they go into a bucket or large bowl. Here, water is to be added to the olives are completely under water. Now we are waiting.

Every day the olives must be drained and again appear in fresh water. This process takes about 8 days, only then follow the next step: the pickle.When a low pickle olives is first placed in a container (with lid). Here one scatters some coarse sea salt, not too much and not too little. Then some dried oregano and bay leaf. And finally, a clove of garlic sliced ​​and laid on the couch olives. Then another layer of olives, salt, oregano, bay leaf and garlic. This repeated they are undergoing the same process until all olives. After all this has been withdrawn about 10 hours, fill the bucket back up with water until all the olives are completely under water and the lid is closed. For example, the olives can be stored for a considerable time in a refrigerator.Olives are eaten for dinner as an aperitif, with traditional dishes and fish. But of course they taste the most delicious with a glass of Portuguese wine! Would you like this delicious olive picking for yourself and want to taste them? Then soon book a villa through Amarante Villas.

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