For this week’s Saturday Spotlight, we’re heading all the way down the boot and into Italy’s “toe” to shine the spotlight on a fellow admirer of Calabria’s charms. The italyMONDO! Blog has introduced us to an entire world of Italian blogs as well as the enthusiastic and passionate writers behind them. It has been a wonderful experience to meet so many people—both online and in person—who share our deep passion for Italy and Italian culture, and as a result it has been equally rewarding to be able to introduce you to our new friends through this new weekly column. Stop by again next Saturday as we shine the Spotlight on yet another fellow Italophile!

Way down south in Calabria you might not expect to meet a Texan, but that is just one of the delightful surprises of Cherrye Moore, a freelance writer who lives in Catanzaro. Also called the “City of the Two Seas” for its location between the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian Seas, Catanzaro is the capital of the region of Calabria and the province of the same name. Cherrye write about her bella vita in bella Calabria at her aptly named blog, My Bella Vita.

With her charming Texan accent and sweet nature, Cherrye is the picture perfect example of southern (Italian!) hospitality. In fact, she and her husband keep busy managing the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast, which they opened together in 2007. Surrounded by a citrus garden (by the way, a cedro is a type of citrus fruit that looks like giant lemon!), the four-bedroom bed and breakfast is located right in the heart of Catanzaro. Cherrye loves how the bed and breakfast offers the chance to meet new people and to introduce them to the treasures of Catanzaro and Calabria.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home. While My Bella Vita began as a personal journal online about learning to live in Calabria, through it Cherrye also began to meet other expats living in southern Italy who became fast friends. Blogging was an introduction to a community of people sharing similar experiences across Italy, and writing about life in bella Calabria has introduced Cherrye to many people who share her interest in exploring the region.

My Bella Vita was born in 2006 when Cherrye first moved to Catanzaro. Like many expatriates, she was eager to keep in touch and share her new life with family and friends back home.

Recently re-launched with an attractive new design, My Bella Vita is where Cherrye shares her passion for writing, a job path she has really enjoyed developing here in Italy. Over the years, My Bella Vita has evolved from a personal journal to a multi-featured blog focused on sharing travel tips, tidbits of Italian life in Calabria, recipes, and fun stories about her daily life running the Il Cedro Bed and Breakfast.

Cherrye is quick to add that the friends she has made and the meetings with fellow expats were priceless in helping her as she adjusted to her new life in Calabria, and that adjusting to life in southern Italy has had both its challenging and charming moments, Cherrye now cherishes the fact that Catanzaro isn’t touristy or crowded. She relishes the “authentic Italian experience,” as she describes it, that she’s been able to experience in Calabria. There is something captivating in the fresh Calabrian air, and Cherrye says that she “loves where she lives and wouldn’t trade it for anything!” I look forward to meeting Cherrye on my next trip through Calabria, but until then I’ll continue to enjoy following My Bella Vita and reading stories of Cherrye’s life in southern Italy.

La dolce vita—the sweet life—often brings to mind images of relaxation and the quiet appreciation of life’s many beautiful moments. It is different for everyone, but for those who have experienced it in La Bell’Italia, it is hard to forget. Perhaps it was an evening stroll as the town church bells echoed through the hills, or the warm Mediterranean sun on your shoulders while enjoying a creamy gelato. In today’s chaotic and hectic world, who couldn’t use a little bit of that it their daily life? As the pace of life moves forward at an ever-quicker pace, more and more people are discovering those little secrets of enjoying moments of everyday life that the Italians have known for generations. La dolce vita comes from slowing down to savor good, fresh foods and sharing time with family and friends. In Italy, cooking is a fundamental (and delicious!) part of la dolce vita. But how can you bring that into your own home?

Personally, I know when I moved to the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy’s Campania region just how much of a challenge it can be learning to cook in another culture. Every day I learned about new recipes and ingredients, but trying to recreate them in my own home was often an adventure. Those beautiful home cooked sauces simmering on the stoves certainly don’t prepare themselves! Never mind the metric scale for measuring everything and the oven marked with Celsius temperatures, what presented the biggest challenge was learning all the new cooking traditions here in the Naples area.

What did I do? Well, after a bit of panicking, I discovered what quickly became my “secret weapon” in the kitchen, the wonderful cookbook Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania by Arthur Schwartz. There it was right in front of me, all the inside tips and tricks for preparing the local specialties. This wonderfully researched cookbook was also fun read, and it taught me about the culinary history here in the region that I now call home. It not only made me feel more comfortable cooking in another culture, but also improved my creativity and approach to cooking. Most importantly, it helped me learn how to bring la dolce vita into my own life and to my own table in Italy.

Living La Dolce Vita (v.)
1—To enjoy the moments of everyday life 2—To slow down to savor good, fresh foods 3—To share time with family and friends

A cookbook at its best is not just a written record of how to prepare dishes. It is also a place to record stories—both family and historical—and shows us that why we eat the way we do is often just as interesting as how it is made. With the increasing popularity of Italian food and the Italian lifestyle, there are now an abundance of books available on subject. From Rachel Ray to Giada De Laurentiis, the shelves of your local bookstore are lined with cookbooks to teach us about Italian cooking.

This is why we at italyMONDO! want to help you find the best and most inspiring cookbooks out there to help you learn more about Italy’s fascinating food culture, history, traditions and regional recipes. Every so often throughout the year, we will be presenting our favorite cookbooks—the ones that really wow us—that we know our readers will really enjoy. Each series will feature book reviews and interviews with the author, but also spotlights on some of our favorite recipes and other selections.

Stop back by next Friday as we begin our first cookbook series with Venerdì Sera – Friday Evening: Creating La Dolce Vita, One Bite at a Time by Michele Carbone. What a perfect way to remind ourselves, as this holiday season whirrs into high gear, about the importance of slowing down, enjoying time with our families and friends, to savor every bite, and, most of all, to remember to bring Italy’s la dolce vita into our lives!

Photo Courtesy of “jenniferrt66” at Flickr

To celebrate Italy’s autumn olive harvest and pressing, we’ve recently devoted our Friday Foods column to a series on that one essential ingredient to La Cucina Italiana – olive oil. An integral part of Italian cooking in all of Italy’s diverse regions from north to south, olive oil has become an important part of Italian culture and daily life. But what is the story behind that bottle of olive oil sitting on your counter? In our olive oil series we’ve followed the production of Italy’s “liquid gold” from the age-old harvesting traditions to the many different methods for extracting the olive oil. But with so many different types of oils to choose from, you’ll also want to check out our recent posts on choosing the best olive oils and how to keep them tasting their freshest.

If you’ve missed any of our series on olive oil in Italy, we thought it would be handy to have the articles all gathered together in one handy post for easy reference. For those of you new to The italyMONDO! Blog, we hope you enjoy reading about olive oil from harvesting to pressing to enjoying it with your favorite Italian dishes. Buon appetito!

For the Love of Olives – Italy’s Olive Culture

October marks the beginning of the olive harvest season in Italy, and traveling across the Italian countryside, you’ll find that the olive tree—that ancient symbol of abundance, longevity and peace—is just as much an integral part of the landscape as its luscious oils are a part of La Cucina Italiana. Dotting the hillsides in picturesque groves or popping up unexpectedly alongside a mountain road, the distinctive silvery green leaves and the large, gnarled forms are indelible symbols of Italian culture. The first part of our olive oil series, this article will introduce you to Italy’s ancient olive culture.

La Raccolta – The Olive Harvest in Italy

One of the most exciting times of the year to travel through the Italian countryside is during the autumn olive harvest. The hillside olive groves come alive with activity as nets are spread out under trees and family and friends gather for the harvest. This yearly event is an ancient tradition in Italy, even older than the many century-old olive trees, and the chance to see it with your own eyes offers a moving connection to the past. This article will introduce you to the traditional and modern-day olive harvesting methods in Italy.

Il Frantoio – From Olives to Olive Oil

Once harvested, olives must be pressed as soon as possible – generally within 36 hours at most. After the hard work of the harvest, the freshly picked olives are rushed to the olive pressing mills called oleificio or frantoio. This time of year the mills from the north to the south of Italy run almost around the clock. Much like the different harvesting methods used across Italy, there are just as many different ways to press oil. In this article you can read about the olive pressing process, including the best part, sampling some of the season’s freshly pressed olive oil!

Olive Oil and La Cucina Italiana

Italy is known worldwide for its distinct regional cooking traditions. But no matter where you travel in Italy, you’ll find that olive oil is an integral part of La Cucina Italiana. Without it any Italian kitchen would come to a grinding halt. This love of olive oil drives Italy’s Olive Culture, and the hard work of the yearly Olive Harvest and Pressing that we’ve talked about in the first three parts of our olive oil series here on The italyMONDO! Blog. Now that Italy’s fresh oils are coming off the (cold) presses, read on in this article for tips on how to enjoy them in your own kitchen.

italyMONDO!’s Olive Oil 101

To wrap up our five part series on olive oil, here is italyMONDO!’s Olive Oil 101, where you can learn about the many varieties of olive oil, what the different names indicate, and what determines the unique flavor of each oil. You’ll also learn how to choose the best bottle, as well as handy tips for how to store your olive oil to preserve its flavor from the first to the last drop. What better way to finish your olive oil introduction than with our olive oil Italian vocabulary that will help you find the best olive oil during your travels in Italy.

Welcome to Saturday Spotlight, our newest weekly feature on The italyMONDO! Blog. Here we will shine the spotlight on those who share our deep love of Italy and passion for the Italian culture. Over the past few months the Italian blogging community has warmly welcomed us into their ranks. Through this weekly feature, we look forward to spotlighting many of the friendly and interesting bloggers living and writing from Italy or around the world, as well as expatriates who have chosen to call Italy home. We also look forward to introducing you to great businesses both here in Italy and around the globe that promote the appreciation of the Italian culture in all of its forms—from family-run bed and breakfasts, agriturismi and restaurants to Italian language schools and various online boutiques

So start your weekend out with a healthy shot of Italian culture with our weekly Saturday Spotlights, and be sure to return next Saturday as we shine the Spotlight another fellow Italophile!

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying a sunny afternoon at one of the many cafés surrounding Sorrento’s busy Piazza Tasso chatting with Leanne, a cheerful Australian expat who has been living in Italy since 2006, and italyMONDO! blogger Laura Thayer. Leanne is also a blogger, maintaining the popular blog From Australia to Italy. Through her blog she has taken her readers along on her journey working in Rome, Taormina, Sicily and, most recently, Sorrento. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Leanne comes from a large Italian-Australian family with roots in both Calabria and Puglia. When I met up with Leanne (and her bel ragazzo!) in Sorrento she regaled us with her family stories, her experiences living and working in some of Italy’s most famous spots and her decision to return to the country her family left behind.

Leanne first visited Italy in 2002 and immediately felt that something inside her changed the moment she set foot in Rome. After spending a month traveling around Italy, including visiting the small town in southern Italy where her family had come from, she realized why she felt so at home here. Growing up in an Italian-Australian family, she often felt like she stood out for her expressiveness and what her friends described as her “tendency to be loud.” (Any other Italian can relate, right?) During her first visit to her grandparents’ hometown in Puglia, it hit her – the people were just like her! This sense of belonging inspired her to pursue a job that would allow her to follow her dream of living in Italy. Along the way she met her bel ragazzo, and the rest of the story you can read about by diving into the archives of From Australia to Italy.

Leanne is just the type of person I really enjoy meeting, since I love hearing stories of how rediscovering your family roots in Italy can be such a life-changing experience. Of course it is not only Italian Americans that can experience the joy of uncovering their Italian heritage. Italians have emigrated all over the world, including Australia, Canada, South America and throughout Europe. In fact, Italians form one of Australia’s biggest ethnic groups. As Leanne shared stories about growing up in Melbourne, I was reminded of the countless similarities to growing up as an Italian American—the big families, the wonderful home cooking, the big Italian meals and, above all, the strong sense of community. It is these similarities that bind us as a community, and the reason why I called the company italyMONDO!(Mondo meaning World).

Leanne is just the type of person I really enjoy meeting, since I love hearing stories of how rediscovering your family roots in Italy can be such a life-changing experience.

Leanne could write a book (and hopefully will someday!) about her family and their journeys from southern Italy to Australia. She describes herself with the fun saying: “Half Calabrese + Half Pugliese = 100% Australian. You do the math, but that’s me.” Leanne’s maternal side of the family comes from the village of San Marco in Lamis, northeast of Foggia in the region of Puglia. Her father’s side of the family comes from the small village of Policastrello, a frazione (hamlet) of San Donato di Ninea. (Policastrello is so small, in fact, that she couldn’t find it on her first visit to Italy!) In 1956, Leanne’s grandparents decided to leave Policastrello to attempt to give their eight children a chance of a better life in Australia. Her father was 14 years old at the time, and set off for a new beginning in Australia, not returning to Italy again for 52 years. Since moving to Italy, Leanne has been back to visit both Policastrello and San Marco in Lamis, each time discovering a little piece of her family’s heritage in Italy.

While Leanne has just left for a vacation back home in sunny Australia (It’s summer there, you know!), be sure to follow her blog From Australia to Italy to follow along on her adventures. Tante grazie to Leanne (and her bel ragazzo, of course) for sharing her family stories and enthusiasm and love for Italy. I’ll be looking forward to the next time!

Two weeks ago, in a post about Olive Oil and La Cucina Italiana, we left off daydreaming about all the wonderful ways olive oil is used in Italian cooking. But good food and reveries aside, there are some basic facts about olive that will help you make the best of that freshly pressed oil you’ve just brought home from the frantoio. And with so many different olive oils to choose from at the store, how do you choose the best one? Once you’ve brought it home, how should to store it to keep it fresh from the first to the last drop? Read on to learn some handy olive oil tips.

Types of Olive Oil
With all of its health benefits, olive oil has received a great deal of press in recent years, and many know already that Extra-virgin Olive Oil (Olio Extravergine di Oliva) offers best quality, flavors and nutrients. To be labeled Extra-virgin, the olive oil must be produced in what is termed a “cold press” where heat during pressing doesn’t raise above 80° F (27°C). Acidity levels also determine the quality of the oil. Extra-virgin oils must have an acidity level lower than 1%. Oils with an acidity level between 1-2% with a nice flavor and color are often labeled as Virgin Olive Oil (Olio Vergine di Oliva). Oils with acidity levels between 2-3.3% are labeled Ordinary Virgin Oil (Olio di Oliva Vergine Corrente), and are often used for frying or cooking where the flavor of the oil is not as important. Any olive oils produced with acidity levels over 3.3% are termed Olio Lampante (named because it used to be used to light lamps!) and are not used for cooking. Nothing is wasted during olive pressing, and what remains of the olive pulp after pressing, called sansa, is often burned for fuel or can be sold to olive refineries that use chemical solvents to extract even more oil. The oil produced by this method is labeled Olio di Sansa in Italy and it is a much lower quality product, often lacking in flavor.

A good olive oil flavor depends not only on the acidity and production methods, but also on the type of olives used and on the particular location and seasonal climate where they are grown. Some of Italy’s regions are geographically quite diverse, which means that oils produced in the same region near the sea can differ significantly from those produced in more mountainous areas with cooler temperatures. Colors and flavors of oils vary from dark green to light golden and strong and pungent to delicate and fruity. For example, the fine oils made with the local Dritta olives in the provinces of Pescara and Teramo in the Abruzzo region are known for their rich and fruity aroma, while those from the neighboring Molise region made with the local Gentile di Larino olives offer a delicate flavor with a slight aftertaste of almonds. Heading further south, olive oil from Puglia and Calabria can be quite peppery with an intense aroma perfectly complementing the spicy local dishes. This range and variety of flavors is what makes sampling olive oil from the top of the boot to the toe such an exciting culinary adventure.

Buying and Storing Olive Oil
The first thing to keep in mind when selecting an olive oil is to remember that it is a delicate product and must be packaged and stored carefully. Olive oil does not improve with age as wine does, and it is best used within a year after production. Take the time to check for a date while shopping and fresher flavors will be your reward. Like any fat, olive oil can become rancid or loose its flavor and health benefits if it is not stored properly. The two main enemies of olive oil are light and heat. Look for olive oil packaged in tins or tinted bottles rather than clear ones, and remember never to store your olive oil in a sunny spot! The ideal temperature for olive oil is between 58-64° F (14-18° C), so be sure not to store it next to your stove as the heat can quickly change the oil’s quality. Too cold is also no good, so get that olive out of the refrigerator!

Olive oil easily absorbs aromas, making it an ideal base for perfumes and for aromatic oils, such as those commonly made in Italy like chili pepper oil, rosemary oil and citrus oils. However, this also means that olive oil quickly absorbs bad odors as well. Be sure to store your oil in a container that has been thoroughly cleaned and dried, and keep it away from strong smells.

Olive Oil Vocabulary
The following list will help you brush up on your olive oil vocabulary and help you find the best olive oil during your travels in Italy.

Olio di oliva – Olive oil
Olio extravergine di oliva – Extra-virgin olive oil
Olio vergine di oliva – Virgin olive oil
Olio di oliva vergine corrente – Ordinary or plain olive oil
Olio lampante – “Lampante” olive oil
La raccolta – Harvest
Brucatura – Harvesting of only the ripe olives from the tree by hand
Pettinatura – Harvesting of olives using hand held rakes
Bacchiatura – Harvesting of olives by beating the branches with poles
Il frantoio – Olive mill or press
Olio nuovo – Freshly pressed oil
Sansa – Olive pulp left after pressing

Photo Courtesy of “SteffanyF!” at Flickr

Italy is known worldwide for its diverse cooking traditions. Varying from region to region as you travel from the top of the boot to the toe, you’ll find unique specialties to try in each place you stop along the way. However, there are a few staples that bind together these countless local and regional dishes that form what we call La Cucina Italiana, one of the most fundamental elements being extra virgin olive oil. Without “EVOO” any Italian kitchen (including Rachael Ray’s!) would come to a grinding halt. This love of olive oil is what drives Italy’s Olive Culture, and the hard work of the yearly Olive Harvest and Pressing that we’ve talked about over the past few weeks here on The italyMONDO! Blog. But now that Italy’s fresh oils are coming off the (cold) presses, how should you use it in your kitchen?

No matter where you travel in Italy today, you will find olive oil an important part of Italian cooking. But it wasn’t all that long ago that its popular use was limited mostly to the central and southern regions of Italy, as well as the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, where the warmer climate offered the ideal growing environment for olive trees. (Even today the southern regions of Puglia and Calabria are Italy’s top olive oil producers). The northern regions of Italy instead depended more on butter for their cooking fat, developing a dairy culture as opposed to the southern olive culture. You’ll actually find this geographic and gastronomical anomaly reflected in two of the simplest dishes still served in the two regions. In the north you’ll find pasta al burro (pasta with butter) while in the south it will be pasta all’ aglio e olio (pasta with garlic and oil). The staples of millions of peasants for centuries, these were the simplest, quickest and most economical dishes that could be made with the ingredients available, and ironically is now often served in many of the best restaurants in the country.

Olive oil is used in countless ways in southern Italian cooking, and it is safe to say that without it you won’t go far past the antipasto without it. It is the base for almost every pasta sauce, and is used for frying all types of vegetables as well as those tasty arancini (rice balls) and polpette (meatballs) that nonna used to make. It is drizzled over salads, both raw and roasted vegetables as well as fish and meats. You will even find it used to preserve tuna and anchovies! A piping hot dish of pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) wouldn’t be complete without a little crude olive oil drizzled over the top. Even better, add some peperoncino (chili pepper) flakes to the oil and let the spicy flavors blend together, creating a popular southern Italian condiment often simply known as “forte” (strong). Anyone who has visited the region of Calabria can attest to the merits of the name!

Olive oil is used in countless ways in southern Italian cooking, and it is safe to say that without it you won’t go far past the antipasto without it. It is the base for almost every pasta sauce, and is used for frying all types of vegetables as well as those tasty arancini (rice balls) and polpette (meatballs) that nonna used to make.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when cooking with olive oil is to remember that a particular oil might not be suitable for every recipe you’re cooking up. Just as a great bottle of Chianti won’t be the perfect accompaniment for every dish, you must carefully select your olive oil to make the most of your Italian meal. The decision is difficult, though, as olive oils come in a variety of colors and flavors and not one can be described as “the best.” The decision depends more upon your personal taste and how the oil will be used. A light olive oil with a subtle flavor won’t overpower the delicate baked fish dish, and a spicier or even pleasantly bitter oil might be the perfect finishing touch for your salad. If possible, taste your olive oil before buying to see if it has a good aroma and flavor and aftertaste that appeals to you. At home, experiment with different combinations of new oils, keeping in mind that you might have more than one in the house for different types of cooking.

While a bottle of artisan-made olive oil may be more expensive than the large, industrial-made varieties, one taste of the fresh flavors will quickly convert you. Drizzled over fresh salads, bread, pasta (and just about everything else!), olive oil is truly an essential ingredient of Italian cooking and one worth experiencing at its best. Visit The italyMONDO! Blog again next Friday for more tips on buying and storing your olive oil, and a handy olive oil vocabulary list so you’ll be ready to discover the freshest olio d’oliva during your travels in Italy.

Photo Courtesy of “Chez Pim” at Flickr

The Italian countryside in autumn is a picturesque scene of rolling hillsides dotted with olive trees, their branches full of ripe olives shining in the Mediterranean sun. Imagining this vista, who isn’t tempted to pluck one of these enticing little olives off the tree and give it a taste? After all, they look so much like the cured olives that make such delectable antipasti here in Italy. However, anyone who has given in to this temptation knows how the extreme bitterness of raw olives runs up and down the spine, making one’s face form unrepeatable contortions. (Much to the amusement of any Italians who might be watching!) That is when you realize just how much of a marvel it is that, with only some hard work and know-how, these bitter little fruits can be turned into the rich, golden oil so important to La Cucina Italiana.

Last week we learned about La Raccolta – The Olive Harvest in Italy – and we left off as the olives were being rushed to the oleificio or frantoio, the two words you’ll see used in Italian to describe the many olive pressing mills scattered throughout the countryside. Once harvested, olives must be pressed as soon as possible – generally within 36 hours at most. That means that during this time of year olives mills from north to south run almost around the clock as one truck or ape (the small three-wheeled vehicle driven by many farmers and beloved by camera-wielding tourists) after another pulls up with their precious cargo.

Much like the different harvesting methods used across Italy, there are just as many different ways to press oil. From the ancient method of using millstones to today’s high tech machines that – from cleaning to pressing the olives – automatically complete every step, each process has its advocates for why it is the best. While there are several variations on the process, let’s walk through the traditional methods first.

The initial step is to prepare the olives for pressing by separating any stems and leaves and washing them. Once clean, the next step, called the frangitura, is where the olives – pits and all – are crushed until they form a brown paste. During the crushing, this paste is kneaded and generally heated ever so slightly so the oils will be released. The exact temperature of heating is a topic of great debate and often varies from one olive grower to the next, but the heat will never rise over 80ºF (27ºC)—the maximum temperature allowed during extraction to still consider the oil “cold pressed.” In the traditional stone ground method, large granite wheels slowly crush the olives as they rotate. In modern methods they are sometimes sliced with sharp blades instead of being crushed, but in many modern mills wheels are still often used—only now they are powered by a powerful engine instead of donkeys and oxen! The aromatic fragrance that arises as these fresh olives are crushed is the first taste an onlooker has of the fine olive oil to come.

Watching the freshly pressed oil drip out of the centrifuge in vivid shades of greens and golds is the moment of truth as this year’s labor and harvest can finally be tasted.

Once crushed, the next step is called the gramolatura, where the olive paste is spread out onto many circular mats made of a woven material, which are then stacked on top of one another and placed in a hydraulic press. As the olive paste is very slowly pressed, a reddish brown mixture of oil and water emerges from the press. This liquid produced from the estrazione (extraction) still doesn’t look like the luscious green and gold olive oils you would expect. To make the final product, this liquid is put in a centrifuge that separates the oil from the water. Watching the freshly pressed oil drip out of the centrifuge in vivid shades of greens and golds is the moment of truth as this year’s labor and harvest can finally be tasted. As you can imagine, to be in the frantoio and taste the “prima spremitura” – the first pressing – is a true delight!

Today modern mills often use an entirely mechanical method, which can combine some – if not all – of these steps into one continual cycle from washing to the final product. While not as romantic an image as the stone mills, the modern continuous cycle mechanical pressing offers many advantages. Each step takes place in a temperature controlled environment, and the stainless steel machines allow for easy sterilization and cleaning. This flexibility and control, as well as the fine olive oils produced, has made the continuous cycle process more and more popular over recent years.

Italians love their olive oil and take great pride in it as well. This is what makes the annual harvest and pressing of olives such a labor of love for so many. The job isn’t done just yet, though! Stop by next Friday for our final post in this series celebrating the olive as we talk about the finished product and the many ways this “liquid gold” is used in La Cucina Italiana.

Photo Courtesy of “Chris P.” at Flickr