Olive oil has always been a very prominent aspect of Italian culture. Olive oil production can’t just be done anywhere. The climate is a huge factor that can make or break a batch of olives. Italy has an ideal climate that is made for making olives and olive oil. Italy ranks 2nd in the world for olive oil production (behind Spain) and in the last 4 years Italy has produced an outstanding 550,000 tons of olive oil. While they may be producing massive quantities, Italy is the worlds top consumer of olive oil so they are still importing these goods from other countries as well.
There are three different production areas in Italy: Southern/Insular, Central Southern, and Central Northern. Southern Insular is the largest production area because it has the optimal climate conditions to obtain high yields of oil. This area includes Sicily to give you an idea of where this extraction occurs. Southern areas can produce the highest quality of olive oil, whereas Northern areas have an environment that changes so frequently that it is not ideal for olive oil extraction.
We had the opportunity to see an old oil press and learned a little about how olive oil was produced centuries ago. You can find the photo below of what this press looked like. It was run with donkeys that circled around the machine in order to get the press working. As of late, olive oil production has started to become more technologically savvy. This is extremely vital to keeping up with our ever changing environment. You won’t see olive presses like this one anymore.
As we toured a farm in Sorrento we were also able to see how newer technology is changing the olive industry. Below you'll see a photo of the nets that this farm used to "catch/pick" their olives. Olive oil is almost like wine here. We did a taste-test of olive oil as well and learned how there are a wide variety of oil tastes. The tasting has helped me understand and appreciate olive oil production a lot more.
-Amy Wooten
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