The olive harvest began all over Israel this month - a good time to visit some of the country's best producers of olive oil and see how the presses work.
"It's a nightmare, simply a nightmare," Avichai Nitzan mutters to himself in despair as he paces around the machines at his own olive press in Zippori. A year of hard work and tense expectation all come together on one morning, the start of the season's first olive harvest. Nerves hit a peak during 10 minutes of pure suffering, during which oil is separated from water after a three-hour wait. The year's first batch of olive oil is to flow out of a small metal pipe, and friends and family members gather around the opening. Nitzan is restless.
"It's a masochistic business. Masochistic," he mumbles. "It's like manic depression. You are never satisfied. One year, there are too few olives, and there's practically no oil, and a year later there is too much and you can't do things properly." A small cloud of steam precedes the first flow of oil, and as soon as a trickle appears at the opening of the pipe, those present begin to cheer. And then comes a steady stream: green-gold and clear.
With the first celebratory toast, saucers and glasses are passed around to offer a taste of the first olive oil; it has a complex, fruity flavor, the pungency of which burns the throat. The oil then goes into stainless steal containers, and only in early December, after the pungency and initial bitterness fade and the oil becomes clearer, will we be able to taste the "first harvest" properly.
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Three hours earlier, as soon as the millstone began to turn and pulverize the olives into a brown and oily tapenade-like paste, an intense fragrance of thousands of fresh olives began to permeate the press. Nitzan was worried. The decision to start the harvest always comes with misgivings: The date of the harvest, along with several other significant aspects of the process, affects the taste of the final product. And that decision, in the Middle East, isn't just a matter of palate or geography, but of society and politics.
In Wadi Ara, the harvest begins extremely early, in early October, due to fears of theft. In the village of Rama, however, residents pride themselves on oils extracted from olives that are harvested late and endowed with a deep golden color. Oil made from unripe, green olives is different from oil made from ripe, black olives. But the rain, which is presently late in coming, and the look of the olives on the trees dictate the final decision.
Nitzan's partner, Micha Noi Meir, 64 , unloads sacks of green, purple and black olives into a basin to wash them. He looks just like Moses must have looked as he carried the Stone Tablets - white curls, bright blue eyes under heavy eyebrows, and a thick white beard. After the first crush, shiny pools begin to appear on the surface of the paste, called flor del aceite, flower of the oil. The flor del aceite is the initial pure oil, not extracted by pressing or through a centrifuge. For the appearance of the real oil, we need to wait three hours more.
Eight years ago, Nitzan, who was then a photographer for Haaretz, moved with his family to Zippori. He had received as a gift homemade olive oil that had been extracted from the fruits of ancient trees planted on the Zippori hills. The taste convinced him to divert his craft from photography to raising olive trees and producing oil. He and Noi Meir, a veteran farmer who deals in hybrid vegetable seeds, leased several olive groves from another farmer in the community. Some of those groves were planted 30 years ago and neglected during the agricultural crisis of the 1980s. New groves were planted just a few years ago. But most of the trees are hundreds of years old.
Thousands of ancient olive trees are planted in the area; their sculpted trunks and branches testify to their age. No one knows for sure whether the trees on the terraces of the wadi at the base of the Church of St. Anne, a Crusader church dedicated to Jesus' grandmother, were planted by the monks of the monastery in the 13th century, cared for by the subjects of Zahir al-Amr, the Bedouin ruler of the Galilee in the 18th century, or were the property of the residents of the Arab village of Saffurieh.
"The question of ownership is blurry," says Nitzan, "and I give it a lot of thought. But I know one thing for sure - these trees were extremely neglected. After years of investment, it is the trees' turn to give back to us." The olive tree, like the grapevine, is endowed with astonishing survival skills. It can go without water or care and retain its ability to sprout anew, though it may look dead and no longer bear fruit. Nitzan and Noi Meir have been rehabilitating 2,000 trees for seven years - pruning dead branches and clearing out surrounding plants. So far, 500 trees have been fully rehabilitated and will yield fruit for the oil.
The decision to cultivate the trees organically and slowly was more intuitive than supported by a firm philosophy. At present, the trees are not irrigated - partially due to the cost of water - and the pesticides Nitzan initially bought were tossed aside. "It smelled like napalm to me. I didn't move my children to the countryside in order to poison myself with that stuff."
The small Italian press, part of the pursuit of full control over the entire process, was purchased four years ago. It is situated at the heart of an ecological building - made of hay bales and plastered with a layer of mud and a coat of olive oil to help seal the structure.
Throughout the harvest season, there is also a cafe, where a look at the olive oil production process is accompanied by excellent herbal tea, fresh organic salads and French pain de fruits, made from carob and dried fruit.
"At night, I dream about a boulevard of cypresses leading to the family estate," says the son.
"You already made a mistake," the father corrects him. "A boulevard of olive trees will lead to the Birger estate." Eitam Birger is speaking with his father, Reuven, a veteran instructor on growing olive and almond trees, and one of the leaders of the Israeli olive oil revolution. Birger grows olives, almonds and wine grapes (two wines in Binyamina Wines' Yogev series are made from grapes grown in his vineyard). Eitam hopes to display the family products at a planned visitors center that will cater to food-and-wine tourists.
Eitam, who studies economics, joined the family business - established by his grandfather - just one year ago. Since then, he has been dealing with branding the oils and learning about similar small farms in places like Tuscany and Provence. Several local olive oil producers are now following the same course - boutique production, with cultivation concentrated on a relatively small plot of land, and a wide variety of species. Individual clients and chefs are offered a selection of oils and quality blends mixed by oil "winemakers."
During the 2007 harvest, the farm produced an excellent olive oil from the Spanish Picual olive. Under the right conditions, this relatively sweet oil preserves its flavor for an extended period of time (most olive oils lose their flavor after roughly one year). The farm's flagship blend is Harvest Choice, a mix of Picual, Barnea, and Picholine, a pleasant French olive that strikes a balance between the fruitiness of the Picual and the spiciness of other species.
The elder Birger, one of the most seasoned olive oil tasters in Israel, admits that, for now, expert tasters have not been able to discern the difference in flavor between different areas of Israel. Whenever that happens, Kfar Kish, which is second only to Karmei Yosef in the number of boutique producers, will certainly hold a place of honor in Israel's resurgent olive oil industry.
Olive presses around the country open in October and, on October 28, so does the Olive Branch Festival. The official opening of the festival, in Acre, will include celebrations to mark UNESCO's inclusion of Israel in its "Routes of the Olive Tree." The festival, which spans two weekends, offers visits to olive presses, homes of Galilee residents, workshops, tours and alternative health treatments.
Among all the many activities, the hikes are worthy of special note. The trails through olive groves and the glimpse they offer into the history of the area, will be an exciting experience even for the most jaded visitor. And don't forget the guided olive oil tastings that will take place at Hananya Farm, headquarters of the local Olive Council. You can only taste the newest olive oils in December, and this isn't an ideal time to try last year's harvest. But it is still worthwhile to experience a guided tasting in order to develop your own personal preferences.
Olive Branch Festival, October 28-November 8, 077-323-5555 www.galil.gov.il
It is only fitting that such a farm - with its internal courtyard, wide veranda, beautiful stone and wooden shutters - should house olive oil producers inspired by the Romantics. The elegant home, designed by architect Alexander Baerwald - a pioneer of eclectic architecture in Israel and the designer of the Technion - was built in 1912 by Eliyahu Blumenfeld, one of the first settlers in the Jezreel Valley. Yoel Zafrir is a farmer from Afula who wanted to escape the town, which had lost its rural feel. He moved to the area in 1973, bought the neglected structure, perched atop a hill overlooking the fields and thus called the Castle of the Valley, from Blumenthal's descendents, then renovated it.
One of the stables has been converted into an olive oil storeroom that is kept at a controlled temperature. His Syrian olive oil, which has won two prizes in local competitions, strikes a perfect balance between delicacy and spiciness, doing the local species justice. "I'm in love with my own oil," he says with a sly smile. Justifiably so.
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