Olivery News — olive oil

 A change from our current offerings this year.  Instead of creating a traditional varietal or grove blend of oils we have elected to blend together our oils to meet flavour profiles.Robust; a strong oil showing characteristics of pepperyness, pungency and full mouth feel.  To be used with stronger flavour foods like tomato sauces, game meats, mushroom risottos, & roast vegetables.Medium: an oil of middling pungency, with good balance of fruityness bitterness and astringency.  To be used liberally on vegetables, salads, pasta and dishes with a 'medium flavour'.Available from September.

Olives picked today are processed tonight.  Here is some pictures from last nights processing. I find the olives always look better at night, I think it is 'selective seeing' in the low light...certainly the spills look smaller until the next day. I use this equipment to deleaf and size out the small olives.  The large olives go into barrels and vats for fermentation in brine and the smalls get pressed for oil within 24 hours..

This shows the matrix we use to identify the quality of the olives after harvest as they come in from the grove.  This lot is from our Haumoana contract grower. Harvest notes from the log: Manzanillo Olives Good colour range A little disease (see the two green olives five rows down position three & four have brown spots).  These will need hand grading out. Not many stalks attached (makes for happy hand graders) Good size olives No wrinkle No frost damage Acceptable leaf and sticks quantity

Telegraph Hill extra virgin olive oil features in the new e-book Remarkable Recipes by international olive oil expert Judy Ridgway.  It is used in the recipes for Feta and Olive Dip And for Telegraph Hill Fish and Chips.  Judy remembers with nostalgia her very first visit to New Zealand when she stayed in a cottage on the estate and enjoyed an excellent dinner with Rose Gresson, then running the Telegraph Hill groves. All 76 recipes in the book come from olive growers and olive oil producers around the world because, as Judy says, who knows more about cooking with extra...