Tag: olive oil

  • The Olive Report, Part 2

    This is Part 2 of your olive report! On Monday, the team at Agriturismo Villa Cefalà was preparing the nets for the olive harvest. A week after the photo for Part 1 was taken, the fruit looked a bit more plump.

  • Our Hearts Are Warmed

    We stopped for lunch at one of my “homes” in Sicily, Case di Latomie, where my dear friend Sebastiano Chiofalo of GelsominoImports.com hosted us among the olive trees. Sicilian hospitality continues to amaze me and warm my heart.  Thank you to chef Francesco Gallo for a remarkable lunch!  From left to right, Jennifer Bowen, Nola Bee, Allison…

  • Press It Good 

    In Sicily, the olive harvest for making olive oil is in full swing right now. Today, it is a highly technical process with stainless steel equipment exploited in squeaky clean, laboratory-type workshops. Before the modern press, this block of limestone, as one example, was the base of an olive mill. Imagine a series of wheel-shaped…

  • Emeralds or Olives

    Who needs emeralds when you can have Nocellara del Belice olives? On Day 3 of Savoring Sicily (our Sept. 22 – Oct. 4, small-group tour), we’ll have lunch at this working olive farm, where you’ll be surrounded by the Centonze family jewels. But, not only lunch. We’ll also have the benefit of the owner taking…

  • Hand Picked

    Olives are ready to be harvested in October and November. In early October, farmers pick them for eating. Now, at the end of October and into November, they pick them to make olive oil. These beautiful Nocellara del Belice variety of olives from Castelvetrano are picked by hand in order to best preserve the integrity…

  • It’s Time to Make the Oil

    It’s olive oil making time! This gorgeous extra virgin olive oil pictured is from the Nocellara del Belice variety of olives, grown in Castelvetrano, Sicily. What you see here is oil being pressed for Olio Centonze, which is sold in the United States by Gelsomino Imports, LLC. This photo was taken earlier this week by…

  • Cast the nets!

    The olive harvest is on! What we learned on our tour is that there are two phases of the olive harvest: the first round is for olives that are to be eaten; the second round, which takes place generally in late October/early November (depends on the climate-location of the trees), is for producing oil.

  • Enchanting Sicily, Day 3: Wise Guy, The Answer

    LIVE from Sicily | Today we visited a beautiful olive orchard in Castelvetrano, Case di Latomie, where they produce superior quality olives and olive oil under the Centonze brand. Dear readers, earlier this month, I posed the question asking how old you thought this tree is. First, note that the earlier photo was taken in…

  • Ancient Oil Carafe

    This vessel is called a lekythos. I photographed it in the civic museum of Castelvetrano, which houses some of the artifacts unearthed from the nearby archaeological site of Selinunte. Lekythoi (plural of lekythos) were used by ancient Greeks to store oil, most often, olive oil. It’s appropriate to see this beautiful one from the beginning…