A 13th century Andalusí cookbook* gives several recipes for how to cure olives. In one version, you are directed to slit the olives with a knife, “but do not go deep to the stones.” In another, you should “crack them on a board so that the flesh breaks but does not separate from the stone.” After incising or cracking, the olives are soaked in fresh water until the bitterness is gone then transferred to brine for the curing period. They are sometimes finished with herbs.
That text appears in the headnotes for Herb-Marinated Olives in my new book, FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS, The Culinary Legacy of Spain. The method described in the old text is exactly the same as the way table olives are prepared in the pueblo where I live—cracking, sweetening in water, then curing in brine with thyme, fennel, and garlic.
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| Home-cured table olives. |
We pick a small quantity of olives, mainly fat Manzanillas and small, fleshy Moriscas, for curing. The rest go to the mill to be pressed for oil.
You do not have to have an olive tree to make the olive recipe in Flavors of al-Andalus. The recipe shows you how to marinate store-bought olives to give them the flavor of herb-flavored Andalusian olives.)
This year we're trying out a "new-fangled" contraption for cracking the olives. Place it over a bucket with the flat piece of wood braced against your body. Put a handful of olives in the well, use the clapper to crack them lightly, and release them into the bucket. The old-fashioned way was to split them, one by one, with a mallet or stone. I've cracked thousands that way in my time!
*The directions on how to prepare olives comes from The Best of Delectable Foods and Dishes from al-Andalus and al-Maghrib: A Cookbook by 13th Century Andalusí Scholar Razīn al-Tujībī (1227–1293), translated by Nawal Nasrallah (Brill, 2021).
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| Yes, that's a clothesline tied between two olive trees. My house is nestled in the midst of 18 olive trees. Not all of them produce in a single year. After spring rains, the trees are really loaded this year. We pick about half the crop in one go in order to get them to the mill within a few days. The remainder will wait on the trees until after we get some rain (fingers crossed). |
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| Olives loaded in Ben's car, we're off to the mill. The local mill (featured in this post) is no longer operational, so we're headed for Molisur, a big one in the next town. |
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| Once in the bin, the fruits of our five days of picking don't look like much. There is a tense moment when the jefe scrutinizes some shriveled olives--those picked de suelo, off the ground, are paid at half the price as those de vuelo, from the tree. But most are fresh and plump, so we get the highest rate, this year 60 centimos per kilo. He advises us to keep them in containers like the one shown so air can circulate and the olives don't deteriorate. |
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| In a booth above the olive reception floor, she tracks the weights (posted on the display screen facing us) and fills out the administrative papers. Our olives weighed in at 90 kilos (almost 200 pounds). |
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| Off they go, up the chute to the hopper where the olives are tumbled to separate leaves, twigs, and other debris before crushing and extraction. |
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| We take the receipt to the front office. |
The mill doesn't yet have new oil available. So we collect Euros for our olives—€54—and buy a liter of last year's oil in the shop for €7.20. Hopefully, when we return with the rest of our olives we can take away fresh extra virgin olive oil.
Photos were taken at Aceites Molisur, Alhaurin el Grande (Málaga). The mill offers guided tours:
We are located in a unique environment, at the foot of the Sierra de Alhaurín el Grande, where you can enjoy nature and at the same time learn everything about the extra virgin olive oil that we produce at Aceites Molisur. We offer guided tours accompanied by the specialized staff of the oil mill.
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FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS
The Culinary Legacy of Spain
This new cookbook has recipes for olives and helpful information about cooking and frying with olive oil. Ask for Flavors of al-Andalus from your favorite bookseller or click below to order.
This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking.
Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times. Dishes from this era include exotic spices such as saffron, the use of fruits and almonds with savory dishes, and honeyed sweets and pastries. The flavors of al-Andalus live on in modern Spanish cooking and are what makes Spain’s cuisine distinctive from the rest of Europe. (Hippocrene Books)
Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.
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