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Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

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Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#141

Post by Gatsky »

giardini wrote: post #71
docbrown wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to Italy, Europe as a whole is pretty picky when it comes to olive oil. As an anglo who was introduced to authentic olive oil imported from Greece.. there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil.

docbrown says> "there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil." Is there a taste/test that someone like me, who is a neophyte and definitely not an expert, could distinguish/use?

If you can find a way, try at least once to taste freshly pressed olive oil (by fresh I mean you are standing next to the oil press). This way you know for sure it hasn’t been blended or tampered with.

My grandparents would pick olives and press them. We would toast big loaves of bread on the coals and drench them in this fresh oil. It tastes totally different to what you can buy in the store (at least what I have had), or even how it tastes a week later. The peppery and acidic notes are surprisingly prominent, giving it a savoury quality that is very moreish. The texture is also quite different, it is thick and rich and heavy, but not greasy at all. It is kind of magic.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#142

Post by inferiorhuman »

hinkley wrote: post #85
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

The French use regionalism with wine to control this without sounding... well let’s just say it: racist. I’m surprised there aren’t appellations for Italian olive oil, if they care so much about it being domestic.

See also: Japanese vs Californian rice.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#143

Post by monodeldiablo »

dmix wrote: post #79
chicob wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like Hacker News, and I usually read my tech-related news here first. Farming is kind of the family business, and I love it. I am also a physicist by training, and thus my interest in technology in general. Agriculture is becoming increasingly technological, and everything from farming gadgets to John Deere tractors hacking has come up many times. There are even some Plasma Physics applications to agricultur…

I'm a programmer and I ended up following a farmer on Youtube [1] originally because he walked through all the tech he used on his tractor (ie, Fieldview) and elsewhere on the farm in a couple videos. I watch his videos whenever they come up now. I love the level of organization and precision that industry is gaining. It's a good inspiration for software in other traditional areas (combined with practical AI applicat…

To tie this all together, I'm a programmer and (small time) olive farmer who worked on FieldView, among other products.

Small world.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#144

Post by inferiorhuman »

vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

> People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud.

https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/07/06/chemists-detect-olive-o...

Around half the oil labeled as extra virgin olive oil is fake. If memory serves part of the problem is that the labeling laws in Europe are much less strict than they are in the United States. This is why you might see a tool marked "Made in Germany" that's actually made in Turkey and merely packaged in Germany. In the United States you'd see something along the lines of "Made in the US with foreign and domestic components" or "Assembled in the US".

Personally I've stuck with one or two brands of olive oil from California because it's a.) supporting my local economy and b.) a known quantity.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#145

Post by monodeldiablo »

pingec wrote: post #77
buboard wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not uncommon to own olive orchards in southern europe (a family thing). I have olives too.

Same here, family tradition. Hello from Slovenia. We are also closely monitoring the situation in Italy. There are other plants that can be infected by X. fastidiosa and should be monitored for signs of disease for example here we are worried about oleander plants that were imported from South Italy.

Ditto (from Croatia).

I never understood the obsession with oleander around these parts. It's (in my humble opinion) not any prettier than "native" ornamentals, and it's toxic to boot.

Add to that list that it's apparently an eager vector for X. fastidiosa...

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#146

Post by inferiorhuman »

josario wrote: post #84

I'm Italian and I come from Puglia. It strikes me directly. It's a hard punch in the stomach, problem is that people don't want to remove this old trees, they are even centuries old and so they make the disease spread more and more as time progress and as a matter of fact the olive oil selling is their only income. The state failed, they had no direct order to remove the trees nor economical help. As an example in my…

While at the grocery store yesterday I noticed that the store had a few shelves of cutting boards and bowls made of olive wood. They're made from non-producing olive trees in Tunisia. The little blurb on the cutting board suggested that the Tunisians cut down the trees once they stop producing.

I wonder if there's enough of a market that producing wood would incentivize cutting down infected trees. The grain is visually very distinctive and appealing and the items themselves weren't particularly cheap.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#147

Post by monodeldiablo »

pingec wrote: post #83
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

I'm also picky about olive oil. I've heard about countless scams in Italy about fake olive oil on TV. Also to me most commercial olive oils from the South (Italy, Greece, Spain) taste quite mild/soft compared to our olive oil from "Istrska Belica" / "Bianchera" variety. We make our own olive oil, it is not a commercial endeavour so quality is first above everything else even though this variety is a PITA to grow. It…

Most commercial olive oils use heat extraction, which can also mellow the flavor (in addition to factors like fruit maturity and variety).

We have almost 100 trees of a common variety ("Oblica") that is regarded as very mild, and a few local varieties ("Lastovka", etc) which is usually considered very spicy and flavorful.

But I've made mellow Lastovka oil and sensational Oblica. There are a lot of variables to manage.

P.S. Naš je najlipše ulje. Naravno.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#148

Post by bluGill »

ams6110 wrote: post #86
cataphract wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Olive oil is a fresh product that needs to be consumed within a relatively short time span (preferably within a year or so) — after that it starts getting rancid. So this is not really an option.

What if you keep it frozen?

The year assumes frozen. Keep it at room temperature and you get just a couple months.

Of course few people (outside of the Mediterranean) have had good fresh olive oil and wouldn't know the difference.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#149

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

dmix wrote: post #79
chicob wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like Hacker News, and I usually read my tech-related news here first. Farming is kind of the family business, and I love it. I am also a physicist by training, and thus my interest in technology in general. Agriculture is becoming increasingly technological, and everything from farming gadgets to John Deere tractors hacking has come up many times. There are even some Plasma Physics applications to agricultur…

I'm a programmer and I ended up following a farmer on Youtube [1] originally because he walked through all the tech he used on his tractor (ie, Fieldview) and elsewhere on the farm in a couple videos. I watch his videos whenever they come up now. I love the level of organization and precision that industry is gaining. It's a good inspiration for software in other traditional areas (combined with practical AI applicat…

I come to Hacker News for these kind of random recommendations.

A couple times a year it really pays off with random Gold you wouldn't get from any other forum.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#150

Post by agumonkey »

chicob wrote: post #65
jimbokun wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, what brought you to Hacker News? It's fascinating the variety of people who contribute here, and I'm wondering what would bring a Portuguese farmer to a site centered around technology and entrepreneurship. (I suppose I could equally ask why this site would be discussing a bacterial outbreak in Italian olive trees, and the answer could be "because it's interesting" to both questions.)

I really like Hacker News, and I usually read my tech-related news here first. Farming is kind of the family business, and I love it. I am also a physicist by training, and thus my interest in technology in general. Agriculture is becoming increasingly technological, and everything from farming gadgets to John Deere tractors hacking has come up many times. There are even some Plasma Physics applications to agricultur…

Do you use electronics to monitor / help farming ?
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