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On our first ever consult with to Alentejo, Portugal, we meet an area olive oil manufacturer whose peculiar strategies have created a logo (Azeite Amor é Cego) that actually displays his love and fervour for his land and heritage.
I used to be transfixed as I stood sooner than a gnarled olive tree in Alentejo, Portugal. This actual one used to be mentioned to be roughly 2,000 years previous.
To the untrained eye, a tree is only a tree till any individual informs you of its age. Then, all of sudden, the tree ceases to be abnormal and in an instant turns into an embodiment of historical past to which reverence is the one suitable response.
“After I began making olive oil the usage of my strategies, other folks idea I used to be loopy,” he mentioned.
No…this wasn’t the tree speaking to me, even if I want it could! At that second, I longed to understand its private darkest secrets and techniques. I sought after to understand the whole lot it had ever witnessed. I sought after it to move me again in time to satisfy whichever historical ancestor planted and nurtured its first seed. How did it continue to exist?
As a substitute, it used to be the voice of João Rosado, the owner of Monte da Oliveira Velha, an olive oil property situated 17 km from Évora, the capital of Portugal’s south-central Alentejo area.
João may be the manufacturer of Azeite Amor é Cego, a 100% further virgin olive oil logo.
The person, the olive grove and his olive oil – all held a fascination whose floor lets most effective scratch in this very transient consult with.
Alentejo, Portugal
The clouds had changed into a mild drizzle and so we stepped clear of the traditional tree and headed inside of a wonderful little cottage set in the midst of this 62-year-old olive grove.
“Do you hire this cottage out for brief vacations?” I had requested João once we to begin with entered, welcome glass of wine in hand.
“No! By no means!” he mentioned. As our dialog endured, I later understood the cause of this emphatic stance.
It used to be our first time ever in Alentejo, Portugal’s rural hinterland.
Having already visited other portions of Portugal together with Porto, Lisbon, the Algarve, Madeira, and Porto Santo, the Alentejo is a area we’d heard little or no about and had yearned to consult with for ages.
This actual post-lockdown consult with to Portugal appeared to have an agricultural theme to it.
Simply that morning, we’d accomplished the 3 hour power from Faro the place we had spent 3 days residing in the midst of an infinite orange plantation. Subsequently, it most effective appeared herbal to spherical up our shuttle with some extra agro-tourism.
Alentejo is thought of as Portugal’s centre of agriculture and breadbasket. Wine, meat (presunto), cork, olive oil and cheese are one of the crucial primary merchandise from the area.
Using north and inland from the coastal Algarve, the panorama adjustments considerably. Thick lush plants becomes sparse hills sooner than sooner or later becoming most commonly flat and rugged terrain with a reputedly unending choice of cork timber (Portugal is the arena’s main manufacturer of cork).
After using previous a couple of small cities, a slender grime street took us off the freeway and against Monte da Oliveira Velha.
“Do you know that round 80% of Portugal’s inhabitants lives within the larger towns?” João requested?
João were explaining how scarce it used to be to supply labour on this a part of the rustic. Évora’s inhabitants is roughly 56,596, kind of a 10th of Lisbon’s 506,000.
“We depend on family and friends all through harvest season to pick out the whole lot via hand,” João mentioned.
“On the other hand, we’re happy with our socially accountable strategy to sourcing labour, even if it items some problem for us as a result of we’ve got most effective 8 hours between the choosing of the olives and the time they’re pressed. We will’t have enough money any downtime.”
Amor é Cego – Love is Blind
There is an engaging tale at the back of the title of João’s olive oil logo.
His grandfather firstly purchased the land and planted olives to be able to complement the circle of relatives source of revenue. Over 3 generations, the circle of relatives had merely farmed olives till João and his spouse, each native college lecturers, determined to challenge into olive oil manufacturing.
The Monte da Oliveira Velha property has 231 olive timber planted over 5 hectares, together with a couple of thousand-year previous ones dotting the plantation. Their annual olive oil manufacturing capability is round 400 litres. This low yield makes it probably the most smaller holdings in a area which accounts for just about 75% of Portugal’s olive oil manufacturing.
“My grandfather planted his timber round 12 meters aside when he began. That used to be tremendous when all he used to be doing used to be promoting the uncooked olives. On the other hand, relating to industrial, super-intensive olive oil manufacturing, the timber will have to be planted round 1 meter aside.”
“I refuse to try this,” João used to be emphatic. “That is one reason other folks assume I’m loopy!”
By way of this level within the dialog, we had begun to get an perception into his philosophy. This middle-aged teacher-turned-farmer had a hearth in his eyes that exposed that there used to be extra to this tale.
“Once we had been on the lookout for a logo identification, with the assistance of an award-winning design company, we hit on a super concept,” he mentioned.
“On account of our peculiar manufacturing strategies and concentrate on high quality over benefit, they claimed we had been blinded via our love. So, they got here up with the title ‘Amor é Cego’ which means ‘love is blind’ in Portuguese.”
Coincidentally, in a the town close to Évora, there’s a in style clay sculpture of a blindfolded feminine dancer signifying the blindness of affection.
The label designers (Rita Rivotti) determined to include this paintings into the Azeite Amor é Cego olive oil logo. The design went directly to win ‘Absolute best Label’ within the 2021 Olio Nuovo Festival.
High quality over benefit
You’ll take the trainer out of the school room however you’ll’t get rid of the trainer’s need to coach. João went on to provide an explanation for his manner and techniques.
“No longer most effective can we intentionally stay the choice of timber low, we paintings with what mom nature provides us. We depend on herbal irrigation to extend the standard of the olives,” he mentioned.
They use no synthetic fertilisers and feature controlled to succeed in natural certification for the farm. The timber are pruned in early spring to extend yield. The olives are harvested early (when they’re nonetheless inexperienced) sooner than they totally mature to supply the best quality uncooked olive oil, in most cases in October.
Azeite Amor é Cego is created from 100% Galega olives, a significant selection in Portugal.
“We don’t mix our olives with different types,” he proudly defined.
We additionally realized about their chilly extraction manner which preserves the unique style and aroma of olive oil. Extra industrial ventures extract at upper temperatures to understand extra yield.
‘Love is blind’ however it tastes so excellent
Our ‘Top rate Olive Oil Farm Enjoy’ incorporated an olive oil tasting match.
“Ceremonial olive oil tasting doesn’t require bread,” João said in his creation.
“OK, no bread then,” we idea.
He poured out the oil from a small bottle into blue-coloured tasting cups – designed to deliberately make the oil’s color ambiguous in order that your senses focal point on style.
Maintaining the cup within the palm of 1 hand and urgent the lid firmly with the opposite, we had been advised to hastily twist the cup in 90-degree increments after which swirl for an additional 30 seconds. It seems that 28 levels Celsius (roughly 82℉) is the perfect temperature to actually unencumber the style and aroma of olive oil.
“Take away the lid and raise the cup as much as your nostril. You must be on the lookout for a odor very similar to freshly minimize grass,” our instructor mentioned.
The earthy and herbaceous aroma used to be not like anything else we had smelled sooner than.
We then took a sip, coating our mouths with the oil after which breathing in some air thru pursed lips, a difficult factor to do with out dribbling like a child.
“The oxygen must mix with the oil to create a peppery sensation in the back of your throat. The extra the feeling, the upper the oil high quality,” he mentioned.
The oil’s aroma used to be a precursor to its subtle, fruity and actually beautiful style!
HDYTI Tip: In a sealed, unopened bottle, excellent high quality olive oil can retain its high quality and freshness for as much as two years. As soon as opened, use it inside 2 to three months to get the most efficient out of it.
For the affection of the land…
João’s restricted manufacturing implies that bottles of Amor é Cego are in prime call for and restricted provide. At round 10 Euros consistent with bottle, this additional virgin olive oil is a cut price.
“Folks assume I’m loopy as a result of I’m no longer inflating my costs for this degree of high quality,” João advised us.
Surrounded via super-intensive olive oil farmers and manufacturers, Amor é Cego is indisputably outstanding for the principled manner of its house owners.
“We do what we do for the affection of the land and to keep the standard of the product,” João concluded on our means out.
Again on the 2,000 year-old tree, reflecting on our revel in, João threw in a single closing tale of a rich buyer who had heard concerning the historical tree and sought after to shop for and delivery it to the Heart East. Unsurprisingly, this big-money be offering used to be met with João’s conventional reluctance to disrupt the soul, historical past and heritage of this land.
For this eccentric Alentejo farmer, a excellent popularity seems to be extra necessary than nice wealth. His passionate love for his land and product is also actually blind…however it tastes so excellent!
Reserving your Portugal Farm Enjoy
Our ‘Top rate Olive Oil Farm Enjoy’ for 2 adults (together with taxes and charges) value us 52.44 Euros. To ebook an agricultural tourism revel in in Portugal, e-mail hi@portugalfarmexperiences.com or consult with Portugalfarmexperience.com.
Ebook a consult with to Monte da Oliveira Velha at azeiteamorecego.pt/en. Apply this hyperlink to Google Maps for instructions.
The Monte da Oliveira Velha property additionally hosts olive oil tastings and 5-course tasting menu in partnership with the Tua Madre eating place in the summertime. On the other hand, puts are restricted and pass in no time!
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