The secret of Immortality – Become an Olive Tree !

HotpanChef is away travelling around in a Puglia for 10 days – exploring, enjoying and eating and drinking around this incredible region. Been posting stuff on Instagram but have not had enough time to blog about anything !

Yesterday, however, I was inspired to do so after attending a tour of Masseria Brancati – an Olive Oil Farm close to Ostuni. The farm offers tours in various languages at a cost of EU10 which you should Pre book by e mail or phone. It’s not very Social Media Savvy and the website is erratic in any language other than Italian. Not being quite up to speed with the modern world is something that will certainly not worry the Owners of the Farm who have seen it passed down through 7 generations since the Original purchase back in 1822.

Signor Brancati who purchased the Farm in 1822!

The Masseria covers around 160 hectares and has Olive Trees that were bearing fruit since before Christ – yes their oldest Olive Tree is around 3000 years old. Most trees can be aged by cutting a section and counting the rings – Olive trees are very different. Whilst shirking many modern day techniques and ways of life the Farm has had some of their trees carbon dated to determine the exact age of their oldest trees. As they age the core of the tree becomes completely dry and appears dead but “ suckers” can appear at any time from this dead looking bark and it was clearly evident that the top of these tress were very alive and still producing. In fact trees that are 2000 years old on the farm are producing 160 kilos of olives over a 2 year period which using the techniques Brancati utilise produces around 24-30 litres of Olive Oil (approx. 15-20% of the weight of olives).

2000 year old Olive Tree !

To consider we were in the presence of trees that have seen so much History was humbling. We were advised that the Farm never ever cuts down its trees due to the regeneration they can perform and whilst nothing is truly immortal these trees could be the closest thing to it.

Many trees therefore appear almost hollow, or split in half, but are still very alive and producing on a yearly basis. They tend to twist as they grow and their oldest tree has 3 twists clearly evident in its bark – 1 for each 1000 years.

The oldest Tree – 3000 years old – needs a little support !

In Puglia alone there are 60 million Olive Trees and taking into consideration this is generally the population of Italy then there is one tree for each and every citizen. In Brancati they are planted 60 Roman steps apart – again giving provenance to their age. Most farms would plant their trees much closer together, and whilst their roots do not go deep and need the space to spread just beneath the surface, Brancati are respecting this old tradition. Here they also can label their Olive Oil Organic as they use no pesticides or Fertilisers – unlike most Commercial production. This can be challenging when there is no or little rain in the region – indeed Apulia ( the old regions name) translates to Land of no rain.

Here they grow only two types of Olives and one is so bitter you would not want to eat it – or if you did you would certainly know about it and not want to eat anything else for a few hours thereafter – such is its bitterness, Something that Italian children learn at a very early age. We saw an abundance of small olives growing in the trees and these would be harvested between October and January. They are all hand picked with the only mechanisation assisting the process being platforms that can assist the pickers to be raised in height so that they can then shake the trees to encourage the Olives to fall. They are collected in huge nets often spanning 5 metres as they fly here, there, and everywhere. Obviously this being July we could not see the process in action but we were advised that on a typical day, working from around 7am to 2/3 pm, they can harvest around 9 large trees per day.

The Olives harvested first are used to make the light Olive Oil which can be used as a general purpose Oil including for cooking/Frying. The later harvested Oils will be more intense in flavour and have the peppery taste that is adored by Italians when using on their salads, Cheese and Tomatoes etc. This would never be used for cooking due to many reasons – the main two being the cost, and low smoking point of the oil. Cook anything with Olive Oil at more than 190c and it becomes rocket fuel and ruins the taste of your food – beware ! Also never, ever, ever keep you Olive Oil in the fridge as if you do an Apulian citizen will die – or so the local saying goes!

After a tour outside observing the works of art that some of these historic trees resembled  – one piece of bark apparently looked like a naked woman, but as our guide explained,  Italians see naked women everywhere – we were taken underground to be shown the areas that were used by the Romans and in Medieval Times for Olive Oil production. Old stone presses and the circular run that blind folded donkeys were trudging 24 hours a day are preserved in an Olive Oil “Museum” that also resonates with the ancient trees outside. Various ways of production were carefully explained and the terrible conditions where rotting olives sat in a room next to a raging furnace, which in turn was beside the workers sleeping quarters ( a bench) in blazing hot temperatures, depicted a scene of horror and stench. During these times the Oil was being Used as Fuel – for Lamplighting etc and was never eaten or used for food preparation. Whether used for fuel or Eating it Homer called Olive Oil “Liquid Gold” and I am sure whatever use it was intended for the recipients would have seen it in this way. Thereafter we were taken upstairs to the “modern” production press that was still used as recently as 1965. These were luxurious times, utilising Horses in shifts – as opposed to donkeys – and were above ground so it had air conditioning  IE windows ! Various instruments of Storage and production had been maintained to provide a vivid picture of Olive Oil processing.

Now we were at the end of the tour and a small blind Tasting was performed to help us understand the differences in taste between the light early harvested multi purpose Olive Oil and the Cold Pressed Extra Virgin. ( Why do you want Extra Virgin – because Olive Oil which is simply labelled Virgin is clearly not “Extra” a word which implies better – Good Marketing ploy !) Seriously –  for an Oilve Oil to be labelled Extra Virgin it must be picked and pressed on the same day, or as a very minimum the next day. It should also be harvested and pressed at the same location. This is something you could possibly check on the next bottle of Olive Oil you purchase. Cold  Pressed – this refers to the temperature level at which the oil is extracted. If you use high heat to extract the oil you will increase your yield, but potentially compromising the quality and destroying some of the delicate flavours. Cold pressed Oil guarantees that the extraction process is never performed above 80.6Fahrenheit thereby preserving quality and taste. Now you know !

Our Guide continues to entertain us !

This was a fascinating tour and good value for money. I leant a lot. Of course you were able to purchase their Olive Oil at the end of the tour, and they ship to any country. I declined – notwithstanding the quality of the tour – as I have access to good stuff in Borough market but it was great to hear the history and process, and now I appreciate what goes into my next bottle of Olive Oil !

Masseria Brancati, Contrada Brancati, 72017 Ostuni, Bari.

tel +39 330 822 910 E mail info@masseriabrancati.com