Converting to Olive Oil

Our tour guide in Lucca, Wanda, said that making olive oil was a religion. And it's gaining converts. Not long ago, I posted about olive oil from our previous Italy trip. During research for that post, I discovered Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller and I added it to my reading list. After exploring the history of olive oil Mueller delves into the occasionally sleazy world of olive oil to expose the realities of the business to naive consumers. The story is beautiful, the corruption is frightening and infuriating.

In my last post, I briefly mentioned the international olive oil groups charged with monitoring the quality of oils aspiring to be extra virgin. Mueller discusses these organizations as well, and notes that even when they find inferior oil, there is little they can do to remove the product from the market.

Fraud in olive oil is an age-old, global phenomenon and it comes in many forms. The oil may be labeled as extra virgin, but is in fact virgin, pomace, refined, or olive oil laced with inferior seed oils. Besides the risks that the mislabeled oils may be contaminated with other harmful substances, there is the fact that these oils do not have the same health benefits as real extra virgin olive oil. Real EVOO is loaded with antioxidants and has acted as a panacea for millennia. Time recently wrote an article about the Mediterranean diet lowering heart risks. Extra virgin olive oil is the crux of the Mediterranean diet, but consuming the fraudulent substances comes with none of the health benefits.

Mueller tells a compelling story with heroes and villans fighting in a war that is far from over. If you care at all about the quality of the food you and your family eat, do yourself a favor and read this book. You'll learn what you've been missing and you'll gain an insight into the culture of oil making. And keep some good oil nearby - you'll want it while you read.

Useful Links!

Amazon Page for Extra Virginity by Tom Mueller
Previous Post, Are Olives Fruit?
Time article, It's the olive oil

Ludwig Revisited

The Swan King by Christopher McIntosh

I just finished a lovely biography of Bavaria’s favorite, deceased royal: Ludwig II. The book was The Swan King by Christopher McIntosh. In previous posts I mentioned how Ludwig is typically characterized as being mad, but now I’m prepared to revise my previous statements.

My earlier research portrayed him in a comical light, a jester with humorous antics, but this book had me pitying Ludwig. The story starts, like most biographies, with his childhood. Here we find a child neglected by his parents and passed off to various tutors. He was a pampered prince but this is no reason to write off this treatment. As anyone is contact with children knows, a stable household goes a long way in overall well-being, and Ludwig’s household was far from stable. At 18 his father died, and he found himself in charge of kingdom on the cusp of war.

Ludwig appears to have been painfully shy, not an ideal quality for a statesman. He was also sexually repressed. Most historians agree he had homosexual tendencies, and due to attitudes of the time, Ludwig spent his entire life trying to suppress these urges. His personal diary reads of repeated attempts to be “good”, the subsequent failures, and his promises and oaths to never stray from the path again. It’s heart-wrenching to read these endeavors and know that he considers his soul imperiled.

When his shyness advanced to a degree where he no longer wanted to be around fellow aristocrats, he withdrew to his buildings. Ludwig’s lack of interest in state affairs led to his government declaring him insane and unfit to rule—even though the diagnosing physician had not examined Ludwig in person.

Recent research into Ludwig’s madness has suggested that he may have had a form of syphilis since childhood—like his brother Otto, also confined due to his insanity. Others have suggested that Ludwig suffered from the lasting effects of meningitis, or that madness ran into his family. While this all could be true, the Bavarian government manipulated the system to remove him from the throne. Following this deposal is Ludwig’s mysterious death.

Both Ludwig and his physician, Dr. Gudden, were found dead in Lake Starnberg, but recent reviews of the autopsies indicate only the doctor had drowned. There is speculation that Ludwig was trying to escape from his confinement and the doctor dosed him during the argument. Did the fight led to Dr. Gudden drowning and Ludwig dying from an overdose of a sedative? We will never know for sure, but this is one of the many theories advanced about their mysterious deaths. This book changed my perspective of the fabled King, and taught me his life was not always enviable.

Winter Walks

 

Ducks and the Danube swelling it's banks

I’ve been advising all our upcoming visitors to be prepared to walk a lot. Since they’ll be prepared, we’re walking more too. It’s getting easier since it’s warming up. We’ve been walking along the river and into town lately. I don’t have much to tell about the walks, but I do have much to show (pictures!).

Frozen lake.

Swan Lake, err River

Swan panorama-count 'em!

Things to Consider when Travelling in Europe/Germany

UPDATED 2/26/2013

• If you are bringing jewelry with you, keep it in your carry-on bag, in a ziploc like liquids. When you go through security, remove the bag of jewelry, like your bag of liquids. TSA and international equivalents are worried about stolen/fraudulent jewelry, and sometimes check jewelry to make sure it can legitimately belong to a single, private collection. Taking your jewelry out of your bag will save time. If you leave it in, they may require you to pull it out so they can verify that it is yours, and run it through the scanner a second time. Don't ever put jewelry in your checked bag. You might never see it again.
• Double check your electronics to see if they work with 220V outlets. If your electronics are not compatible, and you plug them in, they will most likely be destroyed. Remember, simply plugging them into a converter won’t cut it.
• Unless you plan to be inseparable from your phone, or are staying overseas for an extended period of time, don’t buy an international cell phone plan or minutes. If an emergency arises, just using your phone that one time will usually be cheaper than paying for international plans.
• Don’t bring ridiculous shoes. A lot of streets here are made with uneven cobblestones and this making walking dangerous in even sensible shoes. Also remember, 2 pairs of sensible shoes should be enough. The second pair is in case the first pair gets wet or gives you blisters. Shoes are heavy and take up valuable poundage in your checked bag.
•  Remember to leave room in your suitcase for souvenirs.
• Bring clothes that will work for multiple outfits and save space in your suitcase.
• Find out if your bank and credit cards have international agreements that allow you get cash without paying transaction fees. International transaction fees can add up quickly.
• Remember to clear space on your camera’s memory before you arrive to leave lots of room for new pictures.
• Try to sleep on the plane ride over. You’ll arrive here in the morning and you don’t want to waste your entire first day sleeping off jet lag.
• European cities are old—centuries old. They were built before cars were; as such they are usually not designed for drivers. There are many areas in the center of cities that are pedestrian only. Be prepared to walk—a lot.
• Bring clothes for all kinds of temperatures. The weather can vary greatly and change quickly. It’s helpful to be prepared for dramatic weather changes.
• If you are travelling in summer bear in mind that some places have dress codes—no bare shoulders, no shorts, and for women, no skirts above the knees. If you outfit is inappropriate you will be denied entrance, even if you already paid in advance for tickets.
• Keep your phone off or in airplane mode, otherwise it can still receive calls and you will be charged international roaming charges. You won’t need to use your phone while you are here. Get away from it all!
• Dress nicely when flying. Airline staff will be more likely to respect and assist you.
• Wear your coat on the plane; don’t check it in your bag. This keeps weight out of your bag and it will help you stay warm when you’re flying at 30,000ft.
• Bring all allergy and Rx medicines you think you might need. Some countries have bans on importing ALL foreign (US) drugs. Be prepared, do not run out.
• Bathrooms cost money in Europe. Go on the plane, the train, or in the restaurant where it’s free.

Are Olives Fruit?

Frantoio La Visona Olive Oil Cooperative

In a word, yes. Olives develop from the flower of the olive tree, therefore they are fruits, and I suppose they are stone fruits, as they have pits. Olive oil production is a highly contentious subject in Italy. Like most crops it has been subject to large companies coming into the area and working on large scale farms, while the local farmers fight to keep their traditions and superior products alive. We visited a traditional olive mill which operates as a cooperative, meaning that lots of smaller farms join their harvests together to create an abundance of product. Farmers will bring in their olives for pressing, they will take the oil they need (it’s a source of pride to offer your guests oil from your own crops), and the rest will become part of the group collection. The mill will sell bottles of olive oil gleaned from many of the local farms around Lucca. Angelo, the owner of the mill, had very specific opinions about how the oil should be produced for maximum quality.

Traditionally, farmers pick all the olives by hand, climbing up and down ladders in their groves. To maximize space, the olives are often grown on terraced hillsides, so by necessity they are picked by hand. The large farms have machines that shake the olive trees causing all the olives to fall on to nets on the ground.

Millstones

Picking of the olives has to be carefully timed. Stored in large bins, the olives will turn rotten very quickly, and it is imperative they be pressed as soon as possible. Angelo will not accept olives for pressing that are older than 3 days, and he claims that the larger mills will take olives of any age, resulting in an inferior product. At the co-op, the actions of a single farmer can have ramifications for everyone else, so no one tries to sneak in old olives. If they did, the oil for the entire co-op could be ruined, and no one would make any money.

Clean sieves

Step one of olive oil production: remove the stems and leaves that wind up in the bins from picking. Step two: wash the olives so they are clean. Step three is fun: crush the olives (stone and all) using a mechanized mill stone. These are large round “stones” (boulders more like) that spin around quite quickly and crush the olives into a paste. Next the paste is spread onto a kind of sieve; it looks like a squashed woven basket. Each sieve is about an inch thick, with a large hole in the middle. When loaded up with the paste, the sieves are stacked on top of each other on a dolly, and then wheeled over to the pressing machine. Here the oil is squeezed out of the sieves, this is called cold pressing because the olives are not heated to harvest the oil. This is also the first pressing. Some large oil refineries will use the pressed sieves to extract more oil using heat and/or a chemical process. This is not cold pressing or first pressing. Angelo believes that this is an abomination, but he will sell his used sieves to these companies, as he would have just thrown them out anyway. The final step is separating the oil from the water, because when the olive paste is pressed, both water and oil are produced. The separation is done via a machine (I think it was a centrifuge), but as Angelo tells us, in the old days, they would have just waited for the oil to rise to the top.

The first, cold pressing of olive paste to make olive oil

During our visit, the mill was temporarily closed, but this is a rarity. During harvest season, they operate all hours of the day and night. 24/6.5, as they close early on Sundays to clean the machines so they will continue to operate properly. The co-op is a small one room operation, but when those machines are fired up, it has all the volume of a full blown factory. As expected from an olive mill, every surface is oily, and we had to step carefully lest we slip on the slick floors. The smell of olives was pervasive, but pleasant. Wanda and Angelo were old friends; her family has been bringing their olives there for decades. He says she gets preferential pressing times since she has been a patron so long, but she claims she remembers coming in at 2am in the past.

After the tour of the mill, we adjourned to a small meeting room where we feasted on olive oil treats and meats prepared for us by Angelo’s wife; I’ve never met her, but I love her now for those delicious goodies. While we munched on bread, olive oil, and salami, swishing it back with wine, Angelo told us about quality olive oil. There is in an International Olive Council, which sets guidelines for the qualifications of oil. Interestingly enough, how the oil looks is not part of the grading system. The oil for sale at the co-op was a bright, cloudy, green; in sharp contrast to the clear yellows of oil commonly available on American grocery shelves, but it was the best oil I have ever tasted. Olive oil grades are based on the acidity of the oil, the more acidic the oil, the more rancid it tastes. To earn the coveted extra-virgin olive oil grade, oils must have less than 0.8% acidity. Oil at the co-op, Frantoio La Visona must be less than 0.3%.

Olive oil is flammable

US readers take note: the United States is not part of the International Olive council, and uses a different grading system. You are likely buying inferior oils marketed as a higher quality product. When you are purchasing oils, look for the key words: first cold pressing. I also recommend a quick perusal of the Wikipedia olive oil page for a breakdown of what you are likely to find at the grocery store.

And a final cooking tip from Angelo, only cook on low heat for short periods of time. If you are cooking you oil on high heat, or for longer periods, you will lose all the flavor and consistency of extra virgin olive oil. If you do need to cook on high or for a long time, use a lower grade of oil and then add the EVOO after cooking. This will save you money and flavor. 

One last thing: 

One last thing: when researching this post, I came across a book called Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller, and I am adding it to my reading list. This subject matter is the exact kind of thing Angelo was describing to us in his narration of small farmer vs global corporation.

Useful Links!

Photos from Our Trip!
Visit Lucca
Frantoio La Visona Olive Oil Co-op
International Olive Oil Council
Olive Oil on Wikipedia
Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil Link to the book on amazon
NPR Interview with Tom Mueller

The Brick Wall

Lucca, the walled city

Back before Italy became unified as a single republic, it was composed of much smaller city-states, like how the Vatican is now. Florence and Pisa were two very powerful city-states, each attempting to expand their empire. In an act of self-defense, Lucca constructed a wall around their city. Behind the layer of bricks are grassy hills, protecting and strengthening the walls in case of cannon fire. Furthermore, trees were cleared from several miles around the city to facilitate sightlines. On top of all this, there was a large moat that could be flooded in the event of an attack. Presumably, due to these protective measures, the city was never attacked by the Florentines.

During Napoleonic times, the emperor sent his sister to the city to rule over the people. She agreed to set up shop in the local castle. There was only one problem with this plan; Lucca didn’t have a castle because they were a proud republic. They only had government buildings. Duchess Elisa instituted a massive reconstruction project to turn the buildings into a suitable residence. She also tore down several other buildings in front of her home so she could have a square in which to walk and to view from her windows. The palace and square remain, and it is a favorite place for locals to congregate.

Trees in Duchess Elisa's square.

At lunch time, Wanda let us out for free time, after giving a recommendation on places to eat and reminding us when and where to meet the bus. Joe and I first went to a jewelry store to buy some charms for my bracelet, and then headed to the delicious hole-in-the-wall pizza joint Wanda mentioned. After 2^nd helpings of the fare we wandered off on our own, vaguely in the direction of a food market she pointed out during the tour. After getting turned around a couple times we arrived at the market, a bustle of activity with new sights, sounds, and smells all vying for our attention. The market was laid out under the eaves in a courtyard, making a square. We walked a loop and tried out various meats, cheeses, biscotti, and liqueurs, as the shop keepers were only too happy to hand out free samples. We purchased some Christmas presents, had a few snacks, and then met the bus for our next adventure.

Useful Links!

Photos from Our Trip!
Visit Lucca
Elisa Bonaparte in Lucca

Lucca

I think our last day in Italy was my favorite. It seemed the most authentic. Also, this day was the day of the olive oil tasting, an event I had looked forward to since before we even signed up for the trip.

Wanda describing Chestnut flour. 

Our guide for the day was Wanda, pronounced Vanda. She was an amazing guide and a real pleasure to be around. She had grown up in Lucca, the town she was guiding us through, and her knowledge of the area and her pride in it were evident.

The first stop of the day was the Lucca farmer’s market—we were meeting our hotel chef to learn about where be bought ingredients for our meals. We were surrounded by crates of beautiful, local produce while Wanda explained some of the different items to us. Among the new and foreign goods were fresh olives, persimmons, chestnut flour, and farro. I had heard of all these things before, but I definitely was not able to identify them without her help. One of the farmers gave each of us a free clementine, with its stem and leaves still attached.

Sunshine clemies!

When we lived in the States, we had an extensive container garden. The area was in the shade, so we had a hard time growing lots of things, but peppers thrived. Home grown peppers are the most delicious peppers ever. I call them sunshine peppers, claiming the difference in taste is due to sunshine; you can taste the sunshine. The clementines the farmer in Lucca gave us were definitely sunshine clementines. They were juicy and perfect in every way, and now I want a clementine tree.

Fresh olives

Tomatoes!!

In Italy, we were about 12 hours (by bus) away from our destination in Germany. This meant that everything we bought had to survive first, overnight at the hotel without refrigeration, and second, in the underbelly of the bus, bouncing around with everyone’s luggage. Keeping this in mind, I bought some corn meal for making polenta and some dried dates for baking. These my mother-in-law kindly turned into my husband’s favorite Christmas cookies, so everyone was happy. Some people bought some crazy stuff though. Someone bought a crate of fresh lettuce. Another couple bought what must have been at least 15 cloves of garlic. A few bought tomatoes. Someone tried to buy fresh olives (to pickle at home in 3 days) but thankfully Wanda talked them out of that asinine adventure. The olives would have beyond rotten by the time we returned. I wonder if everyone was able to use their products before they went bad, though I kind of doubt it.

After loading the bus with everyone’s ridiculous perishable purchases, we bussed over to the main gate of Lucca, the walled town. 

Useful Links!

Photos from Our Trip!
Visit Lucca

Apology and Weak Explanation

I know this is late. Very late. So late I almost considered not writing it, but it would be a crime if these memories were lost forever with the advent of time. Our trip to Italy in November was 4 days, and after writing about the first 3 I ran out of time. We were preparing to return to the states for Christmas, so I was working on what I call the travel document. This is a 200 page behemoth guide of places Joe and I are interested in seeing in Europe, and serves as a baseline guide for people coming out to visit. I wanted it to be ready for perusal by the parents. It’s a miracle that it was even finished too because my computer died a few weeks before our US departure. I had to use my husband’s computer, and when it comes to electronics, he isn’t the best of sharers. But that only takes us to Christmas. Our US trip was a whirlwind of visits with friends and family. There wasn’t much quiet time to sit, think, and churn out stories about our trips. And finally, we returned to Germany, where I started planning everyone’s trips. As I used my wonderful travel document to schedule these trips I was plagued with a nagging feeling of guilt. I had unfinished business in the blogosphere, and I was ignoring it. So here it is, almost three months after experiencing it; our last day in Italy.