OLIVE OIL
The Ferranti family are proud to be both farmers of olives and producers of Single Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
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Ferranti Olive Grove
A Year in the Life of the FERRANTI Olive Grove
at Col de L'allba Catalan
JANUARY: POST HARVEST
With the main harvest of quality fruits over, all that remains is to clean up in the groves, and pick up all the discarded damaged fruits that lie around under the trees. This is done with hand operated machines which have rubber rollers covered with sharp spikes, the olives are ejected off the rollers into trays and then sacked and taken to the mill for milling. The oil content of these olives is very high (about 37%) because much of the water has dried out, but because of fermentation the acidity can be as high as 4.5%.
This oil has to be distilled and the final product is called 'Pomace Oil' which is a bland flavoured oil that is used mostly for cooking, or in many cases mixed with a small amount of extra virgin oil and sold as table oil. Sadly, many blends of cheap supermarket oils are composed this way.
At the Ferranti Groves all the Pomace quality oil (2nd Class) is retrieved from the mill and we make Olive Oil soap with it (more on this later).
FEBRUARY - MARCH: PRUNING
This is one of the most important jobs in the olive groves, at Ferranti we have 1400 mature trees to manage, and our policy is to heavy prune half of the trees one year, and the other half next year. This method helps to alleviate alternate bearing and ensures we have a constant cropping each year (50 - 60 metric tons of fruit annually). Our aim when pruning is to remove firstly all new wood that is growing vertically, and then to thin out old wood on the horizontal limbs to encourage new growth into the downwards position.
Thinning out of the downward canopy also allows free circulation of air and sunlight which also reduces 'Scale' insect attack and Olive Fly infestation. Thus our trees when pruned looks like huge umbrellas with 3 or 4 massive horizontal limbs spreading 20 - 25ft, like the spokes of a wheel, with the fruiting wood dangling down like a willow tree. Thus the productive canopy of the tree sometimes 40" - 50" in diameter can be hand harvested without ladders.
All the litter from the pruning has to be raked up and burned, in clearings away the tree canopies. Burning restrictions begin March 10th in Catalan, so every effort is made to finish pruning by this date. Any burning after this date has to be licensed by the local Adjutamunt, time restrictions are usually Monday - Friday 6am - 12.00 midday.
MARCH: FERTILISING
Olive trees love nitrogen which helps to promote flower budding and new growth after pruning, about 3kg of fertilizer is applied by hand under the canopy area of each tree. On some of the larger trees we mostly use 6kg. We expect to use 5 - 6 tons of fertilizer each year, which will take a two man team 2 working weeks.
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APRIL: SPRAYING
The last week of March or the first week in April (weather conditions favourable) we apply a Copper Sulphate solution by mist application to the canopy, this prevents fungus development and also reduces infestation of the Scale insect which are reproducing at this time (one over wintered female Scale insect can produce 400 - 500 baby crawlers).Scale insects attach themselves to the small branches of the tree and feed off the sap, not only inhibiting the new growth, but also secreting a black sticky honeydew over the leaves and new fruit. Very unsightly and unhealthy for the trees.
MAY: SETTING OF THE FRUIT
The olive tree is now in full bloom and the flowers will be setting, many of the flowers will not produce a fruit and fall onto the floor (The average olive tree will produce about 500,000 flowers, of which 495,000 will be infertile). It is starting to get hotter and now is the time for us to check all the irrigation equipment, all our irrigation is overhead sprinklers, and so we have miles of pipes to check for brakes and sprinkles to unblock. It is essential that the system is fully re-commissioned before the very hot months of June, July and August.
Our groves are divided into 5 zones, each zone gets 4 hours irrigation a week, always at night.
JUNE: DACUS (OLIVE FLY)
The fruit are growing fast and the stones will be setting in 2 or 3 weeks, this is the time that triggers the olive fly to reproduce. The female will lay about 40 eggs, one in each olive fruit, the eggs hatch in 2 - 3 days and the larvae burrows into the olive fruit and pupates in 4 weeks starting another cycle. Fruit attacked in this way renders it unsuitable for table oil or canning (pickling). A severe infestation can wipe out the whole crop.
The last week of May and the first week in June we prepare for this pest by attaching Trap & Kill lures to the trees, it is essential to do this before 'stone set' in order to reduce numbers of olive fly, before their reproduction cycle begins.
The most common organic method of control in Catalan is the 'Olipe' trap, which is simply a 1.5 litre plastic bottle ¾ full of water with 3 yeast tablets. The bottle is hung on the south side of the tree with 3 or 4 holes drilled in the shoulder. The Dacus are attracted by the yeast, crawl into the bottle and die.
This year at Ferranti's we will hopefully be trialing 'Magnet ol' a new trap and kill from 'Agrisense'. The attraction in this lure will be Ammonia Bicarbonate, this trap is fully approved for organic groves.
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JULY - AUGUST
During these hot growing months we just monitor the irrigation lines, walking them every day checking that there are no breakages. We also check the 'Trap and Kill' lures, making sure they are still effective against the olive fly. We also turn our attention to the other crops we grow i.e. Figs, Apricots, Peaches, Almonds and Citrus. Most of this work is done early morning or evening, as it is too hot from 12.00 - 4.00pm.
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER
The olive is now fully developed and turning a straw yellow colour, and at this stage it is the ideal time to harvest for pickling or canning. There are two ways to do this, one is to soak them in Sodium Hydroxide (Caustic Soda) for 8 hours, and the other is to soak them in a strong brine solution for 4 weeks. A small proportion of our prime crop of Morut will be utilized this way. (Recipes for home pickling later).
The other important task we have is to prune away all the young shoots at the base of the tree (Podering), sweep and rake up all the old leaves under the trees and burn them. This ensures a clean floor under the trees ready for the impending harvest.
OCTOBER - NOVEMBER: HARVEST
Late October is another clean up time, but this time it will be windfall olives, bruised olives or any olives damaged by the olive fly. These olives are picked up with the spike rollers and sent to the mill to make Pomace oil (2nd grade oil). The first week of November we are clean and ready for the early harvest of the fruit for Extra Virgin Oil.
We grow three types of Olives, Morrut, Sevillanca and Farga. The rough percentage of trees are 40% Morrut, 40% Sevillanca and 20% Farga. The first olive harvest is Morrut, followed by Sevillanca and then Farga, all oils are kept separate and blended at a later date.
Nets (Manta's) are placed under the trees and we use hand held Clappers and vibrators to remove the main crop, we finish the tree with hand held rakes. Because we prune on the scaffold system we do no use ladders, our entire crop can be reached from the ground which minimises bruising and damage to the fruit. The fruits are decanted gently from the nets into 10kg shallow, stackable crates which allow air to circulate between them, thus preventing fermentation.
Labour is split into crews, three persons per crew. Normally we use three crews and each crew has a target of 600kg of olives per day. An average production year we would grow about 60 metric tons of olives, this equates to 12 tons of oil. An average tree would produce about 60kg of fruit, some of our large trees have produced as much as 500kg, and some have produced nothing, that's olive nature.
We use a local private mill with a modern Pierilisi Jumbo System, as this mill is only 5km away we can make two deliveries a day. The morning harvest (about 1000kg) is at the mill by 3.00pm, and the afternoon harvest (800kg) is there by 7.00pm.
At the mill the olives are washed, de-leafed, weighed and allocated a batch number, and a bin number. We have our own Ferranti storage tank at the mill and usually collect the finished oil once a day. The mill also has its own analysis laboratory which is essential for documenting each batch of oil we produce.
All our oil is stored in airtight containers and temp controlled until bottling, we aim to finish the harvesting by the end of December thus completing a full 12 month cycle.
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OLIVE OIL SOAP OR CASTILE SOAP
Convenient Batch Size
Ingredients:-
50 Ounces Olive Oil (Pomace)
7 Ounces Caustic Soda (Lye)
20 Ounces Cold Water (Preferably distilled but not essential)
Lay out moulds in readiness for your finished soap solution, make sure you have sufficient capacity for the 70 ounces of finished liquid. The above batch should produce about 25 2oz bars of soap, (water will evaporate during the curing process), or you can make one large block and slice when set.
Mix up your Lye solution in the following way, making sure you wear gloves and safety goggles. Pour 20ozs of cold water into a glass or stainless steel container, never use aluminium or galvanised utensils. Add the caustic soda crystals slowly to the water and stir with a wooden or stainless steel spoon, avoiding splashes. Remember, never add water to the caustic soda crystals as this can cause an explosive reaction.
The temperature of this solution will rise to about 150°F and you should set it aside until it cools to 100°F. Use a candy thermometer to check.
Pour the 50oz pf olive oil into a stainless steel saucepan and bring the temperature to 100°F.
Pour the oil into a mixing bowl that has sufficient capacity to accommodate the 20oz of Lye solution, and the 50oz of olive oil.
Slowly add the Lye solution to the oil and stir continuously until the solution starts to thicken, (usually 10 - 20 mins) and trace lines appear on the surface of the solution. This reaction is called saponification, where as the caustic soda is neutralized, and turns the oil to soap.
It is now ready to pour into the moulds. When finished place the moulds in a warm place and wait 24 hours. The soap should have then set and be ready to remove from the moulds, these soaps will still be slightly caustic, and you should allow at least 6 weeks to cure before using.
Pure Olive Oil Soap or Castile Soap is one of the oldest cleaning agents known to man.
Early lye solutions were made by adding water to wood ash, or volcanic ash, and then mixing with olive oil. Thus the discovery of early soap was probably accidental, but improved over the years by trial and error.
Olive Oil soap is the purest soap you can ever use, it contains no abrasives or perfumes which can cause skin rashes, and can be used safely on all tender skins i.e. babies, facial areas etc. It cleanses your skin and will not block your pores, ideal for Acne and Eczema sufferers. It is also excellent for washing hair as it gives a deep clean with no dandruff.
Tips: Never use extra virgin olive oil as this takes hours to saponify, only use the low-grade Ponace oil or cooking olive oil. If you deep-fry in olive oil, you can reuse it for making soap as long as you filter it thoroughly through muslin.
Sometimes if the olive oil has been heated many times (cooked in many times), the saponification process can be as little as 4 or 5 minutes, and the soap starts to set before you have poured the last mould. This can be prevented by adding 10% extra virgin olive oil before you start the process, thus increasing saponification time to about 20 minutes and slowing down the setting time of the soap.
Good luck and happy soap making, but do be careful with the caustic solution, as it can burn your skin. Always have some vinegar handy to dab on your skin in case of accidents.
HOME CURED OLIVES
There are two simple ways, LYE or BRINE treatment.
LYE PREPERATION
Because Olives contain a bitter component called OLEURIPEIN they must be processed before eating, olives for curing should be picked by hand when they are fully mature but still green or turning a slight straw yellow colour. The usual time is late September, early October, extra care should be taken so as not to bruise the olives.
The olives must be thoroughly washed in clean water and then weighed.
The Lye solution is then prepared using 1 litre of water to every kilo of fruit.
For every litre of water add 20gms of Lye,
e.g. 10kg of fruit, 10 litres of water, 200gms of caustic soda crystals (Lye)
Add the Lye crystal slowly and stir until dissolved, wear safety goggles and gloves, and avoided splashing this solution as it will burn your skin. The water will get very hot and must be left to cool before proceeding.
Place the olives in the solution and make sure they are all completely submerged, sometimes some of the olives will float, and any contact with air will cause them to turn brown. They can be kept submerged by using a simple wooden or plastic cover, never use galvanised or aluminium, as this will react with the Lye. The olives must be kept submerged for a minimum of 8 hours and then sampled.
Carefully remove a few olives (were gloves) and slice the length ways, the olives are ready for the next process when the Lye has penetrated halfway through the flesh
i.e. the outer half of the flesh would have turned brown.
If the Lye has not penetrated fully wait another 30 minutes and test again, repeat this process until you are satisfied. Drain off the Lye solution (it will be of a brown colour) and keep rinsing with cold water until all the brown colour disappears and the water stays clean.
The olives are now ready for storage.
Prepare a small amount of a brine solution by adding 25gms of salt for every kilo of olives. Place the olives in the curing jars and pour in the brine solution, top up with water to cover the olives completely and seal. The jar may be shaken gently to thoroughly mix the brine with water and then places in a cool environment. The olives are now ready for eating.
BRINE PREPERATION
Prepare olives initially as in previous recipe up to the washing stage.
Prepare a brine solution by adding salt until a fresh chickens egg will float on the surface, place the olives in their storage jars and fill the jars with the brine solution until they are completely submerged. Replace covers and store in a cool dry place.
After 28 days the olives are ready to eat, if they are too salty, soak them in water for a few days.