Sicilian Olive Oil - A Taste of Nature
With wine and - oddly - mineral
water, olive oil is one of Sicily's most important exports. But the better
brands rarely get the attention they deserve.
Sicily's olive varieties trace their origins on this island from time
immemorial, with the first oleasters and (much later) the Greek kalamata,
probably the first domesticated cultivar brought to Sicily. Sicilian olive
oil is among the world's most fragrant and appetizing. To categorize it
generically among "Italian olive oils," as though you were filling
out a customs declaration, is to overlook its unique qualities. It is believed
that Sicily's particularly fertile soil, which in eastern regions is volcanic,
produces some of the world's best olives. The ancient Athenians preferred
Sicilian olive oil to their own, though some of the varieties grown in Sicily
and Greece were actually the same.
A popular perception holds that the greener its color, the purer the
olive oil. This is generally true for most varieties of olive oil, but it
must be said that certain varieties of olive yield a slightly more golden
oil. Like grapes, olives come in different colors. Olives may be green,
grey or black when ripe, depending on the variety. Curing does not alter
the basic color of the olives, but only enhances it. Certain types of olive
tree grown in Calabria's Aspromonte region are tall and thin, producing
a small dark fruit from sparse branches. The Sicilian trees are usually
shorter with somewhat denser foliage. This makes it easier to pick the olives
by hand, which causes less damage to the trees than mechanical harvesting.
There are two ways of pressing olives to draw the oil out of them. Cold
pressing uses a natural process, with no heat, to extract the first oil
from the freshly harvested olives. This product is often called virgin or
extra virgin olive oil. When it is unfiltered, it has a foggy consistency
and a grayish sediment. To purists, this is the best grade of olive oil,
and it is ideal for salads. However, the virgin olive oil sold in stores
is usually filtered, and beware of "virgin" oils produced outside
the European Union, where the term may be defined only vaguely.
Most olive oil is "refined," meaning that it is extracted,
sometimes with a heat process, from the olive husks that remain following
the initial "cold" pressing. The quality of such "olive husk
oils" is not that of the extra virgin kind. Virgin olive oils are usually
less acidic than refined ones.
Apart from its purity and the extraction process used to produce it,
olive oil is distinguished by its acidity. In general, the lower the acidity,
the better the oil. For an idea of what we're talking about, try biting
into a raw green olive sometime. It's tart and bitter, to say the least.
It is true that cold pressed, unfiltered olive oil is typically more acidic
than the filtered kind. Truth be told, even a relatively high acidity level
would not be very obvious or unpleasant unless you were consuming the oil
alone, without any other food or seasoning.
To be designated "organic," an Italian olive oil must be made
from olives grown on trees which have been free from chemical agents for
at least three years. This conforms to European Community and Italian national
directives. Olive oil is also graded by its thickness, or viscosity, though
this does not imply a judgment of its culinary quality. Unfiltered oil is
naturally denser, and more opaque, than filtered oil. The first seasonal
pressing, available by early December, is sold in much the same way as novello
wine. When olives are pressed, the pits (stones) are crushed as well, but
a new process entailing removal of the stone before pressing yields a better
oil. Actually, we shouldn't call it a "new" process, since evidence
indicates it was employed by the ancient Greeks.
Sicily has a number of olive oil appellations based on region,
and various olive varieties. A more extensive explanation of both
topics will to be found on Best of Sicily's Sicilian olive oil page. Here, a few of the better oils
produced in Sicily.
Titone: A fresh, fruity organic oil
produced in the Trapani region using a low-oxygen pressing and extraction
process. At Titone.It.
Sant'Andrea: Made in the Madonie
Mountains, this organic oil is dense and tasty. VillaSantAndrea.Eu.
San Damiano: Organic oilive oil made
in eastern Sicily near Nicosia. OlioSanDamiano.It.
