Olive rustling on the Mozarabe

[Bradypus]

One of the features of the Camino Mozarabe are the apparently endless olive groves. Which some people find pretty boring. Just came across a small news item about the theft of 8 tonnes of olives from plantations along the way. A handy reminder that there can be interesting background stories in what seem the most unlikely of settings!

La Guardia Civil investiga a veintisiete personas por la sustracción de aceituna en fincas de Lucena, Cabra y Puente Genil

La Guardia Civil ha logrado recuperar más de 7.800 kilogramos de aceituna sustraída

www.subbeticahoy.com

 

[peregrina2000]

Oh, thanks for this @Bradypus. In case people are wondering about who would steal olives, the drought has slashed olive oil production in Spain for the last two years. The price of olive oil in Spain increased by 70% in 2022. One additional concerning fact reported in that article is that according to the UN, temperatures in the Mediterranean area are rising 20% faster than in the rest of the world.

apparently endless olive groves. Which some people find pretty boring.

And how in the world can anyone find walking through olive groves boring? I love those stretches. On the Mozárabe the setting is frequently spectacular - groves on rolling hills with mountains in the background. It’s a great opportunitiy to sing loudly and off key, and one of my favorites on those days is Andaluces de Jaén, sung by Paco Ibañez and based on a poem by Miguel Hernández, which praises the hard and low paid work of the workers.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

We saw a few olive groves on the Via Francigena in Italy in October 2022, and saw both green and black olive trees. They didn't seem boring as it was a new experience to walk among them. I was surprised when every olive we sampled were always extremely hard and awful tasting, yet the time of year seemed as though they should be ripe.
@Bradypus happened to see my "Live on the Camino" thread and told me they must be soaked in brine and marinated to become soft and edible. I often learn new things on the forum and this information was an interesting fact.

 

[Flog]

One of the features of the Camino Mozarabe are the apparently endless olive groves. Which some people find pretty boring. Just came across a small news item about the theft of 8 tonnes of olives from plantations along the way. A handy reminder that there can be interesting background stories in what seem the most unlikely of settings!

Not boring at all, at least not in the short term, I only spent a few days among them, a welcome change from Northen Spain in winter!

But I did wonder about just that.. theft, when I spent those days wandering through and getting lost amongst the many lonely and isolated paths through the olive groves in early November just gone, all of it very accessible..

We saw a few olive groves on the Via Francigena in Italy in October 2022, and saw both green and black olive trees. They didn't seem boring as it was a new experience to walk among them. I was surprised when every olive we sampled were always extremely hard and awful tasting, yet the time of year seemed as though they should be ripe.

You just can't eat fresh olives..yes, even plump, glossy ones, ripe as they come, are utterly unpalatable until they've been cured.. I wrote about my own efforts with them on here just recently, with those same mozerabe olives.

 

[henrythedog]

We saw a few olive groves on the Via Francigena in Italy in October 2022, and saw both green and black olive trees. They didn't seem boring as it was a new experience to walk among them. I was surprised when every olive we sampled were always extremely hard and awful tasting, yet the time of year seemed as though they should be ripe.
@Bradypus happened to see my "Live on the Camino" thread and told me they must be soaked in brine and marinated to become soft and edible. I often learn new things on the forum and this information was an interesting fact.

Green olives are unripe black olives.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Green olives are unripe black olives.

Well the black ones were also hard as a rock right off the tree.

 

[henrythedog]

Well the black ones were also hard as a rock right off the tree.

I was over 40 before I began liking olives - I’m still not a great fan of green olives. Anyway; they’re not different things, just different stages of ripeness.

 

[malingerer]

I was over 40 before I began liking olives - I’m still not a great fan of green olives. Anyway; they’re not different things, just different stages of ripeness.

and there was me thinking the rustlers were hordes of hungry pilgies

Samarkand

 

[Anniesantiago]

Well the black ones were also hard as a rock right off the tree.

Joe and I picked black olives at his desert home and brined them.
They were awesome.
My mom and grandmothers used to brine the green ones - using lye!
They were also really good!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Joe and I picked black olives at his desert home and brined them.

Annie, I remember you talking about the olives on your website about two years ago. You are a wonderful gardner, artist, and had very creative ideas for your van conversion to a camper...a very talented lady.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Annie, I remember you talking about the olives on your website about two years ago. You are a wonderful gardner, artist, and had very creative ideas for your van conversion to a camper...a very talented lady.

Awww thanks.

 

[t2andreo]

We saw a few olive groves on the Via Francigena in Italy in October 2022, and saw both green and black olive trees. They didn't seem boring as it was a new experience to walk among them. I was surprised when every olive we sampled were always extremely hard and awful tasting, yet the time of year seemed as though they should be ripe.
@Bradypus happened to see my "Live on the Camino" thread and told me they must be soaked in brine and marinated to become soft and edible. I often learn new things on the forum and this information was an interesting fact.

Fresh / raw olives CANNOT be eaten as is. They must be processed first to leach out the tannins that make them so awful tasting when raw.

So, individual picking - poaching make absolutely no sense as the olives are quite inedible when picked. However, large scale theft of "tons" of olives makes more sense - at least from a process standpoint. Either way, whether a handful or a truckload, it is still theft.

The thieves cannot use or sell the olives without a processing plant, to press the oil or to process and can or bottle the olives. These are usually factory-sized buildings. Surely, someone will notice something and report it - at least I hope so.

I hope the culprits are eventually apprehended.

Hope this helps,

Tom

 

[isobelmtl]

Green olives are unripe black olives.

There are many kinds of olives. Just as green apples ( Granny Smith for example) are not unripe red apples, so there can be green olives that are ripe for picking. No olives that I know of can be eaten right off the tree.

 

[henrythedog]

There are many kinds of olives. Just as green apples ( Granny Smith for example) are not unripe red apples, so there can be green olives that are ripe for picking. No olives that I know of can be eaten right off the tree.

Odysea, a well known olive oil producer says:

What’s the difference between green and black olives?​

The colour! That’s about it. Green and black olives are the same fruit; black olives are simply left on the tree to mature for longer and change to a darker purple-black colour.

After processing, green olives can, of course, be eaten

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Odysea, a well known olive oil producer says:

What’s the difference between green and black olives?​

The colour! That’s about it. Green and black olives are the same fruit; black olives are simply left on the tree to mature for longer and change to a darker purple-black colour.

After processing, green olives can, of course, be eaten

Interesting, because when I buy green olives in a jar, they taste completely different than black olives that I buy in a can. Also interestingly, I never notice seeing the black ones in jars. They must be marinated/processed with completely different ingredients to taste os different than green. All olives come in both small and large sizes; the large ones are always more expensive.
Edit- The most expensive largest green ones in my area are often filled with either garlic or blue cheese.

 

[Beamish]

While walking the Via Francigena Sud last fall my wife and I heard of the Italian olive growers in the Puglia region using GPS olives. From the article below I see that it is also being used in Spain.

In Spain, Trackable Olives Help Farmers Catch Midnight Thieves

Organized mafias plunder Spanish olive groves in the night, but this Andalusian startup is hoping to put an end to the thievery.

www.saveur.com

 

[Jan Jones]

Oh, thanks for this @Bradypus. In case people are wondering about who would steal olives, the drought has slashed olive oil production in Spain for the last two years. The price of olive oil in Spain increased by 70% in 2022. One additional concerning fact reported in that article is that according to the UN, temperatures in the Mediterranean area are rising 20% faster than in the rest of the world.


And how in the world can anyone find walking through olive groves boring? I love those stretches. On the Mozárabe the setting is frequently spectacular - groves on rolling hills with mountains in the background. It’s a great opportunitiy to sing loudly and off key, and one of my favorites on those days is Andaluces de Jaén, sung by Paco Ibañez and based on a poem by Miguel Hernández, which praises the hard and low paid work of the workers.

Ha, thank you , that’s wonderful, oh that my Spanish were up to it. I hadn’t realised that the Mediterranean countries are so disproportionately affected - ooofff.

 

[Anamiri]

Interesting, because when I buy green olives in a jar, they taste completely different than black olives that I buy in a can. Also interestingly, I never notice seeing the black ones in jars. They must be marinated/processed with completely different ingredients to taste os different than green. All olives come in both small and large sizes; the large ones are always more expensive.
Edit- The most expensive largest green ones in my area are often filled with either garlic or blue cheese.

We get black ones in jars as well. But the best ones are the ones you buy by weight, and come in flavored olive oil. Yum.

 

[Molly Cassidy]

Terrible harvest here in Greece too. Olive oil prices have doubled in 2 years.

Also reports of thefts of olives from the trees and of newly processed olive oil.

 

[JerryStroebele]

We are on the Camino Mozárabe,now in Cartaojal, and were wondering why some of the olive groves are protected by expensive chain length fence. Buen Camino

 

[Fred Gaudet]

At harvest time, watching the machines pick the olives is fascinating.

 

[peregrina2000]

At harvest time, watching the machines pick the olives is fascinating.

Watching the old-fashioned people pickers is humbling. Lots of hard work to make those olives drop. There are still places in Portugal where they are harvested by hand but I don’t know how common it is. And I’ve never seen it in Spain.

 

[William Garza]

olives..ugh..olive oil and balsamic vinegar yum!
A study in dichotomy..or irony?

 

[JerryStroebele]

My daughter and I are on the Camino Mozárabe de Málaga. Here many of the olive trees are on slopes so steep it is difficult to imagine machine harvesting. Here we see trees that have dropped their ripe olives. The ground beneath is purple. Two days ago we came upon a human harvesting crew. A woman with a huge backpack leaf blower was herding the olives together and blowing away leaves and small rocks. Two men with metal leave rakes were raking the olives into small metal mesh baskets. They then shook the baskets and emptied them into the front end loader of a tractor carefully negotiating the STEEP hillside. TOUGH WORK! Buen Camino

 

[Bradypus]

A woman with a huge backpack leaf blower was herding the olives together and blowing away leaves and small rocks.

On the Via Francigena in Italy I saw hazelnuts being harvested. Leaf blowers used to move them into long narrow lines then they were collected using a small version of a road sweeping machine with a large hopper attached.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Thank goodness for the invention of simple leaf blowers. Even at home they are a wonderful multi- purpose item.