Foto Friday – Olives take center stage

November 5, 2010 - 5:27 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, coexistence, Environment, Foto Friday, General, health, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Politics, Social Justice, Travel 

The humble olive finds itself in the eye of a political storm this year with reports of violence and vandalism from all sides. (Perhaps the fairest assessment of the situation comes from a new Oxfam report which puts the blame squarely on… well… everyone, which is kind of refreshing). Meanwhile, the fruit of the Olea Europaea tree is ripening and olive-picking activities – also on all sides – are at their peak.

The annual Galilee and Golan Olive Branch Festival started last week and features two weekends of activities for tourists to Israel’s northern region. The festival, a joint initiative of the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee, the Galilee Development Authority and the Israel Olive Board is being held under the slogan “A Tribute to the Olive in Different Cultures”.

Activities include visits to olive presses, workshops, hikes, cycling tours, spas and gourmet eating. In addition, an Open House initiative offers visitors a glimpse into the lives of Galilee residents – Jews, Arabs, Druze, Circassian – including traditional food, music and crafts.

Hananya Farm is one of the country’s major producers of olive oil. Located in the Western Galilee, it is both the headquarters of the Olive Board and one of the festival’s four information centers, offering a wide range of workshops and activities.

These include picking and pressing the olives in an old-fashioned press, guided olive oil tasting, explanations about the olive harvest, an arts and crafts fair, farmers market and musical performances beneath the olive trees. Guided hikes (many with KKL-JNF guides), cycle and jeep tours are also available.

A few words about the Olive Board. A statutory body representing the interests of Israel’s olive producers, it sets standards for olive oil quality and production. In recent years it has adopted an additional aim: promoting the health benefits related to olive oil consumption. Their website contains a range of information, from the history of the olive in Mediterranean culture to the varieties of olives grown in Israel, like Barnea, which was bred specifically for modern olive and olive oil production methods. Truth be told (and it’s worth reading the Oxfam report with this in mind) stone presses are nice for promotional festivals and niche markets but that’s not really how this stuff gets made – or makes it – in the mass market.

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EVOO Israel style

November 8, 2009 - 2:40 PM by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Business, coexistence, design, Food, General 

olive-harvest-_1-002It’s olive harvest time in these parts, which I was reminded of while passing [a possibly] public grove of olive trees on King David Street, in which several Arab women were picking and harvesting the crop.

Yes, charming and amusing and a reminder of the importance of olive oil, whether EVOO or other, in these parts. Now that Israel has beefed up on its boutique wineries, olive oil is the next cottage industry to hit the commercial mainstream, and enterprising olive oil producers are doing just that.

Here’s a nice little piece about four different olive farms…and if you can’t make it out to the farm — or the patch of olive trees on King David Street — just head over to liveO/Oil of Life in Mamilla or Tel Aviv, where their Negev Desert-sourced olive oil is packaged to perfection, whether as olive oil, straight; in soaps, jams (the Pear and Vanilla Jam is particularly good), or a myriad of other products.

According to the company, liveO produces five different lines of gourmet products based on their extra virgin olive oils, Picual, Souri, Barnea, Frantoio and Manzanillo. The oils are cold pressed, classified as extra virgin, and have a level of acidity not exceeding 0.5%. The gourmet line was created by Julian Attia, a French culinary advisor, inspired by the world of wines.

If you seek your own regular source of olive oil, LiveO will deliver a quantity of olive oil to your home monthly or quarterly, for a not insignificant sum. Or, you can cure olives yourself:

Olive-curing recipe:

Collect olives by hand in a clean plastic bucket to prevent bruising.
Day 1: Wash in running water. Add boiling hot water and allow to soak for 24 hours.
Day 2: Pour off cold water add more boiling water.
Day 3: Pour off cold water add more boiling water.
Day 4: Pour off cold water. Place the olives into clean jars and add a mixture of brine and white (or any other type) vinegar in the proportions of 3 to 1 by volume.

Brine = 10%w/v salt in water that is 100grams/litre of final solution

Fill jars well and add a layer of olive oil.

liveO: Mamilla Avenue, Jerusalem / 21 Rothschild Blvd., Tel Aviv

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