Olive groves on the Colonna estate
We tend to think of the harvest as the most important time in the olive oil calendar and look to this time of the year to assess both the quantity and the quality of the new season’s oils, but as Marina Colonna points out in a recent mailing it is right now in the late spring, early summer that likely yields will be determined. If the weather is favourable the fruit will set well and the outcome will be good. If, on the other hand, the weather brings heavy rains and strong winds the fruit set will be affected with potentially disastrous results.
Marina goes on to say that this is also the time, albeit a year later, to assess the quality of the new season’s oil. “ Every one talks about new oil in November,” she says.”but the real time to understand its quality is again right now in late spring. It is after months of careful maintenance that the oils reveals its true nature. If it retains its aroma, fruitiness and balance it means that the work done, both in the groves and at the mill, was done with care and attention. This is when the oil confirms its value or begins to lose strength.”
This statement was particularly interesting to me as producers often used to tell me that they would prefer not to release their oils until a while after the harvest. This seemed to go against the market demand for the freshest possible oils but actually makes some sense if they felt their oils had not yet reached their peak.
Colonna Classic oil is currently one of the three oils in use in my kitchen this month. It is a robust oil with lots of character, good balance and attractive flavours. I use it when I want to make a statement with my choice of oil.
Marina Colonna runs the family estate, Contrada Bosco Pontoni, near San Martino in Pensillis in Molise, with flair and imagination. The estate is dedicated to olive oil with no vineyards in sight. As well as the traditional local olives like Leccino, Aurina di Venafro, Cazzarella, Cellina di Rotello, Gentile di Larino, Oliva di Colletorto, and Sperone di Gallo which are used for the DOP Molise oils, she has planted a wide range of olive varieties from other Italian regions such Frantoio from Tuscany, Ascolana from The Marche, Corantina, Peranzana and Cima di Melfi from Puglia and Noccelara del Belice from Sicily. With this palette of oils the estate produces a range of excellent oils under the Colonna label as well as specially designed oils for some of the world’s leading food stores.
Marina is nothing if not adventurous and she was amongst the first producers to try out the innovative Sinolea machine to press the best of her olives. This machine used hundreds of little stainless steel knives to cut into the fruit and release the oil which ran off the knives by surface tensión. In my opinión it produced a very elegant oil but it did not yeild all the oil from a batch and it was exceedingly complex to clean. In the end Marina decided these disadvantages outweighed its advantages and reverted to the continuous centrifugal system.
Another of Marina’s innovations was the introduction of flavoured oils made with fresh fruit and herbs added to the olives before milling. The first of these was the Grandverde Lemon oil which used to be unique to the family. Subsequent flavours include orange, tangarine and bergamot oils and more recently rose and cinnamon.
For many years the Colonna range has been imported by Charles Carey of The Oil Merchant in Shepherd’s Bush and it was with him that I first visited the Colonna estate. We spent a very interesting and enjoyable couple of days touring the estate and enjoying Marina’s excellent hospitality, eating in a local restaurant on the first evening and then at home the second evening with an informal kitchen supper cooked by Marina herself. She made a simple but delicious pasta dish using romanesco and, of course, one of her own oils.
Here is the récipe:
PASTA WITH ROMANESCO ,GARLIC AND CHILLI
Romanesco is also known as broccoletti. It looks a little like a pale green rather pointed cauliflower. I have had similar dishes a little further south using cima di rapa instead of romanesco and any interesting vegetable can be used.
This quantity serves four hungry people.
Ingredients
- 1 broccoletti or plenty of cima di rapa
- 300g orechette (ear-shaped) pasta
- Colonna extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Chilli flakes to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper and salt
Method
Place the vegetables in a pan of boiling water and cook for five minutes. Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente.
Drain very well and then finish cooking with the oil, garlic, chilli and seasonings for a couple of minutes.
Serve with plenty more olive oil.