Every November the whole village stops for the harvest. Here is what it looks like from our kitchen.
The nets go down under the trees in the first week of November, and for ten days nobody in Valderrobres talks about anything else. Our two hundred trees are mostly empeltre, the local olive: small, dark and mild.
From the tree to the mill
We pick by hand and by rake, and the olives go to the co-operative mill the same afternoon. Left overnight they start to ferment, and you can taste it in the oil. The first oil comes out green and cloudy, with a bite at the back of the throat that fades after a few weeks.
At the mill each family’s olives are weighed and written down in the same notebook the co-operative has used for forty years. A good harvest gives us around five hundred litres, enough for the kitchen, the breakfast table and a bottle for every guest who stays in December.
Why empeltre
Empeltre was brought to Aragón by the monks of the Ebro valley and it has stayed because it suits the place: it ripens late, survives the frosts and gives an oil that is soft and a little sweet, with notes of almond and green apple. It is the oil we use for everything, from the toast at breakfast to the olive oil cake.
How to join in
Guests who stay during the harvest can spend a morning with Joaquín under the trees. Wear old clothes, bring gloves and expect a very long lunch. If you would rather watch, the mill is open to visitors in the afternoons, and the first toast with new oil is on the house.
