The following particulars with regard to the production of olive oil
in Tuscany have been furnished to Mr. Consul Inglis by one of the
principal exporters in Leghorn:
The olive oil produced in Tuscany from the first pressing of the fruit
is intended for consumption as an article of food. Hence, great
attention is paid both to the culture of the olive tree and the
process of making oil.
The olive crop is subject to many vicissitudes, and is an uncertain
one. It may be taken as a rule that a good crop does not occur more
frequently than once in three years. A prolonged drought in summer may
cause the greater part of the small fruit to fall off the trees. A
warm and wet autumn will subject the fruit to the ravages of a maggot
or worm, which eats its way into it. Fruit thus injured falls to the
ground prematurely, and the oil made from it is of very bad quality,
being nauseous in taste and somewhat thick and viscous. Frost
following immediately on a fall of snow or sleet, when the trees are
still wet, will irretrievably damage the fruit, causing it to shrivel
up and greatly diminishing the yield of oil, while the oil itself has
a dark color, and loses its delicate flavor.
The olive tree in Tuscany generally blossoms in April. By November the
fruit has attained its full size, though not full maturity, and the
olive harvest generally commences then. The fruit, generally speaking,
is gathered as it falls to the ground, either from ripeness or in
windy weather. In some districts, however, and when the crop is short,
the practice is to strip the fruit from the trees early in the season.
When there is a full crop the harvest lasts many months, and may not
be finished till the end of May, as the fruit does not all ripen
simultaneously.
Oil made early in the season has a deeper color, and is distinguished
by a fruity flavor, with a certain degree of pungency; while as the
season advances it becomes lighter in color, thinner in body, and
milder and sweeter in taste. Oil made toward the close of the harvest
in April or May from extremely ripe fruit is of a very pale straw
color, mild and sweet to the taste, though sometimes, if the fruit has
remained too long on the trees, it may be slightly rancid. Oil very
light in color is much prized in certain countries, notably France,
and hence, if it also possesses good quality, commands a higher price
in the Tuscan markets.
The fruit of the olive tree varies just as much in quality as does the
grape, according to the species of the tree itself, the nature of the
soil, exposure, and climate of the locality where it grows. Some
varieties of the olive tree largely grown, because thought to be
better suited to the special conditions of some districts, yield a
fruit which imparts a bitter taste to the oil made from it; such oil,
even when otherwise perfect, ranks as a second rate quality.
The highest quality of oil can only be obtained when the fruit is
perfectly and uniformly sound, well ripened, gathered as soon as it
has dropped from the trees, and crushed immediately with great
attention. Should the fruit remain any time on the ground,
particularly during wet weather, it deteriorates fast and gets an
earthy taste; while if allowed to remain an undue length of time in
the garners it heats, begins to decompose, and will yield only bad
oil.
The process of making oil is as follows: The fruit is crushed in a
stone mill, generally moved by water power; the pulp is then put into
bags made of fiber, and a certain number of these bags, piled one upon
another, are placed in a press, most frequently worked by hand; when
pressure is applied, the oil flows down into a channel by which it is
conveyed to a receptacle or tank.
When oil ceases to flow, tepid water is poured upon the bags to carry
off oil retained by the bags. The pulp is then removed from the bags,
ground again in the mill, then replaced in the bags, and pressed a
second time. The water used in the process of making oil must be quite
pure; the mill, press, bags, and vessels sweet and clean, as the least
taint would ruin the quality of the oil produced.
The oil which has collected in the tank or receptacle just mentioned
is removed day by day, and the water also drained off, as oil would
suffer in quality if left in contact with water; the water also, which
necessarily contains some oil mingled with it, is sent to a deposit
outside, and at some distance from the crushing house, which is called
the "Inferno," where it is allowed to accumulate, and the oil which
comes to the surface is skimmed off from time to time. It is fit only
for manufacturing purposes.
After the second pressing the olive-pulp is not yet done with; it is
beaten up with water by mechanical agitators moved by water-power, and
then the whole discharged into open-air tanks adjoining the crushing
house. There the crushed olive kernels sink to the bottom, are
gathered up and sold for fuel, fetching about 12 francs per 1,000
kilos, while the _debris_ of the pulp is skimmed off the surface of
the tank and again pressed in bags, yielding a considerable quantity
of inferior oil, called "olio lavato," or washed oil, which, if
freshly made, is even used for food by the poorer classes. The pulp
then remaining has still further use. It is sold for treatment in
factories by the sulphide of carbon process, and by this method yields
from seven to nine per cent. of oil, of course suitable only for
manufacturing purposes. Only the first two pressings yield oil which
ranks as first quality, subject of course to the condition of the
fruit being unexceptionable. New oil is allowed to rest a while in
order to get rid of sediment; it is then clarified by passing through
clean cotton wool, when it is fit for use.
The highest quality of olive oil for eating purposes should not only
be free from the least taint in taste or smell, but possessed of a
delicate, appetizing flavor. When so many favorable conditions are
needed as to growth, maturity, and soundness of the fruit, coupled
with great attention during the process of oil-making, it is not to be
wondered at that by no means all or even the greater part of the oil
produced in the most favored districts of Tuscany is of the highest
quality. On the contrary, the bulk is inferior and defective.
These defective oils are largely dealt in both for home consumption
and export, when price and not quality is the object.
In foreign countries there is always a market for inferior, defective
olive oil for cooking purposes, etc., provided the price be low. Price
and not quality is the object, so much so that when olive oil is dear,
cotton-seed, ground-nut, and other oils are substituted, which bear
the same relation to good olive oil that butterine and similar
preparations do to real butter.
The very choicest qualities of pure olive oil are largely shipped from
Leghorn to England, along with the very lowest qualities, often also
adulterated.
The oil put into Florence flasks is of the latter kind. Many years
back this was not the case, but now it is a recognized fact that
nothing but the lowest quality of oil is put into these flasks; oil
utterly unfit for food, and so bad that it is a mystery to what use it
is applied in England. Importers in England of oil in these flasks
care nothing, however, about quality; cheapness is the only
desideratum.
The best quality of Tuscan olive oil is imported in London in casks,
bottled there, and bears the name of the importers alone on the label.
There is no difficulty in procuring in England the best Tuscan oil,
which nothing produced elsewhere can surpass; but consumers who wish
to get, and are willing to pay for, the best article must look to the
name and reputation of the importers and the general excellence of all
the articles they sell, which is the best guarantee they can have of
quality.
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