LOCATION AND CLIMATE

 

As you might expect, olives grown in cooler areas where there is more moisture (rainfall and dew) exhibit leaner, more restrained characteristics.  This doesn’t however mean that great oil can now be made in Iceland – you need a minimum amount of sunshine to make your Extra Virgin Olive Oil taste remarkable, similarly to tomatoes or stone fruit.

Olive trees are sensitive to winter freeze (the Casaliva cultivar is more resistant to cold, hence being grown in the Garda region).  It is also easier to farm organically where the climate is more stable and less chemical sprays are required to keep the trees healthy.

OLIVE MATURITY

 

Here’s the thing – all olives are green.  When they become fully mature, they turn black.
Olive maturity at the time of harvest is a major factor in flavour and quality: olives harvested earlier (green olives) feature more bitter, grassy characteristics, with lower yields and with the highest anti-oxidant content.  The oil is a much more intense green colour and has a longer shelf-life.  In terms of production, milling can take longer with green olives (a longer malaxation - the action of slowly churning milled olives to release droplets of oil - is needed and can be more complicated) but the results are far superior!  Don’t choose olive oil from over mature fruit: it lacks all the potential goodness and flavour.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN GROVE AND MILL

 

People who care passionately about what they make and follow it personally every day have the capacity to create products with far higher quality, with integrity, and that taste of where they come from.  They are also able to do this by caring for the environment they inhabit.

FRANTOIO DI RIVA BOX

This box contains 6 bottles of extra virgin olive oil made exclusively by Frantoio di Riva from groves on the banks of lake Garda.

Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO green label x 3 bottles (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO organic white label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO blue label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, ULIVA Garda Trentino DOP x 1 bottle (50cl)

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Iperico Oil
October 20, 2023 In Health

Olio all’Iperico

Iperico, or St. John’s wort is an indigenous plant here in Tuscany, but it has spread to every part of the world. Its name derives from the family to which it belongs, the Hypericaceae, and it grows from sea level up to 1600 metres.

It can flower from April to August/September, depending on latitude and altitude, but traditionally it is harvested at the summer solstice, June 21st, or around the festival of San Giovanni, June 23.

 

On this magical night, the dew, the so-called guazza di San Giovanni, imparts particular powers to the flowers. But in truth, that will make your oil go rancid, water is in fact the enemy of oil and its conservation over time, which is why collecting dry flowers for the preparation of your oleolite is definitely favourable. The best time is mid-morning, when the sun has already dried the night’s humidity but the flowers have not yet baked under the midday sun. It’s also fine to harvest when it’s warmer, but certainly not at night or at dawn, when the plant is humid.

 

To make the oleolite, the simplest thing is to cut the flowering tops with your fingers or scissors, selecting the most beautiful ones taking care to leave the closed buds on the plant, so that they continue to flower for the benefit of pollinators and the plant’s offspring.

 

Harvest the flowers directly in to the jar in order to regulate the quantity (you should fill the jar to about ¾ of its capacity) and then cover the flowers with Olive Oil. In an ideal world, you should then expose the jar to direct sunlight for about a month. After a few days, you will see the oil turn an intense ruby red, which is quite breathtaking.

 

During the phase of maceration, it’s a good idea to stir the flowers every other day if you can to guarantee the best results. And then after this period, set up a filter with a fine sieve and a gauze cloth – you’re looking to obtain a perfectly clear oil with no residue.

 

Olio dell’Iperico can be used for multiple curative purposes. We’ve only ever used it for external cures such as for cuts, mosquito bites, anti-inflammatory, antisceptic, muscle pain etc. but of course it has many additional magical properties.