Olive Oil and Other Agricultural Products of Puglia


February 8, 2022

According to our Road Scholar guide, Puglia (Apulia) is the chief producer of olive oil in Italy.  I confirmed her claim via Google which shared this official statistical report from 2021:  "Apulia is the undisputed leading producer of olive oil with over 208,000 tons annually. Calabria and Sicily come next in terms of output with 53,000 and 34,000 tons, respectively. Apulia counted the highest number of olive oil mills, with 904 sites."

Lucky for us, a visit to one of those olive oil mills was included in our itinerary--Masseria Brancati.  Our host and guide, Corrado, is the seventh generation of his family operating this mill with trees that are up to 2,000 years old.  

A bitterly cold wind was blowing the day we visited--the only day on our trip during which we had "bad" weather.  We were glad to be able to go inside this underground mill which contains evidence of the production tools used by the Romans and later by medieval farmers. 


The olives were pressed in the circle at the right of the left photo.  The groove surrounding it allowed the oil to drain into the collection pools.  Water was mixed with the oil.  When the oil floated, it was collected and placed in stone jugs for storage or transportation to markets.



The old trees sprout new growth which is often cut back, but if a very ancient tree is showing signs of distress, a new shoot is allowed to flourish as happened here.  This "young" tree has taken over the olive production of the older parent tree over the last twenty or so years.

After an olive oil tasting and lesson in rating olive oils, we jumped at the opportunity to purchase some cans and bottles.  The biggest concern we all shared was how to get as much as we might want to purchase home in our suitcases.  Fortunately, you can order directly from the mill at:  https://www.masseriabrancati.com/   And if you are looking for an agritourism experience, you are welcome to stay at the farm's B&B and help with the process.

On a very sad note, we also drove past many ancient groves of dead olive trees.  A microorganism named Xylella was detected in 2018 and it has destroyed nearly eighty percent of the trees in southern Puglia in just a few years.  Emanuela told us that it was imported with coffee plants from Costa Rica.  There is hope that trees in the rest of the province can be saved.  It is a major economic tragedy for this region.



Puglia has always been a fertile region and it produces some outstanding grapes, including Negroamaro and Primitivo (also known as zinfandel) varieties.  We enjoyed delicious house wines with lunches and dinners throughout our tour.



I was also interested to learn that artichokes are a major crop of Puglia.  (Sorry the photo is so blurry, but it is hard to take good photos from the window of a bus speeding down the highway.)  






Almond trees are also prevalent and were in glorious bloom during our trip.  (I didn't get a photo so have stolen this one from my friend Todd who lives in Italy.)


Should you decide to travel in Puglia someday, you can be assured of good food and wine.  And it is generally inexpensive compared with American prices.  We generally paid less than $15 a person for a decent dinner with sufficient wine. 


Comments

  1. MagdaFebruary 12, 2022 at 2:03 PM

    Nice picture of the almond tree in bloom. They are in bloom in Greece as well in February.

    ReplyDelete

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