Thursday, May 6, 2010

Olives

On his domain, Christian Imbert combines with passion his 2 loves: the vineyard and the olive tree. Why the olive tree? Because it represents the symbol of peace.

He owns more than 5000 olive plants on a 25 hectare area which 16 hectares are in St-Cyprien.

We use Picholine olives, the most widely available variety of olives in France.

The tree generally needs another olive tree for good pollination. The olives are small to medium-sized, and pointed at one end. The pit is smooth, but the chewy, fruity flesh clings to it.

The olives are grown for making both oil and green olives from.

As table olives, they are cured in brine, resulting in a mild but slightly-salty taste. Some of these are marinated in oil with herbs and spices afterwards; some are pickled in citric acid.

The oil content of the olives is only medium-range, 20 to 22%. Sometimes, under irrigation, it can drop as low as 15 to 18%.

Before being pressed for oil, the olives are allowed to ripen to black on the trees.

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