In Portugal, autumn is the time for a apanha da azeitonathe olive harvest ! Across the Alentejo, Trás-os-Montes, and the Beiras, it’s already well under way.
The harvest usually runs through November and December, but this year the hot summer ripened the fruit ahead of schedule. That’s not bad news, however. Olivum, the growers’ association, expects about 10% more azeiteolive oil than last season.
In the big modern olivaisOlive groves of the Alentejo, the harvest is done by machines that shake the trees. But on small family plots, the work is still done by hand. First, they spread panoscloths or redesnets under each oliveiraolive tree , and then comes o varejar: beating the branches with a long varapole until the azeitonas rain down.
Straight off the tree, an olive is far too bitter to eat, so the ones destined for the table spend months curing in brine. Some varieties are especially prized for this, like the maçanilha.
The rest go to o lagar to become oil. During vindimagrape harvest , the same word refers to a stone tank for treading grapes. But when it comes to olives, o lagar is a building full of machinery. Big mills spin the paste in centrifuges and hold the oil in steel tanks at a controlled temperature. Smaller lagares serve the local community: families bring their own olives and go home with garrafõeslarge jugs of oil, enough for the whole year.
The best part: tasting
Then comes the best part: tasting! The traditional way is with a tiborna, hot bread soaked in azeite novonew oil , which began as the mill workers’ own way of tasting the first oil of the season. In the Alentejo, they finish it with salt or açúcar amareloyellow sugar (similar to light brown sugar), the Ribatejo has a toasted version called torricado, and in the Beiras it’s part of a dish called tibornada.
All this fuss over fresh oil goes against an old Portuguese proverb:
Azeite, vinho e amigo, o mais antigo.Olive oil, wine and friends: the older, the better.
Olive oil does mellow out within a few months, but fans of azeite novo love it while it’s still cloudy, green, and peppery. For the next few weeks, new oil stays close to home, sold at the lagar door, at cooperatives, and by small producers.
It won’t reach supermarket shelves until November, so if someone invites you to a apanha, say yes and bring gloves. Your back will hate you, but a tiborna will make up for it.