Olive Oil and Home-hosted Lunch

Today’s drive took us through a higher mountainous region toward Granada. About halfway through, we visited a farm co-op in Alfarnate to learn about their olive oil production operation.

Farmers bring their harvest to the co-op where it is weighed to determine the expected volume of oil, translating to how much the farmer gets paid. Farmers only get paid one year later, after all the oil sold, because of price fluctuations. They can borrow from the co-op if they have justified expenses.

Once the olives are washed and the solids are removed (twigs left from the harvest, pits, stones), they are ground up into a mash (no pressing involved at this facility!). The mash is slightly warmed to make it easier to separate water from the oil in a centrifuge. They must keep it below 80 degrees to be considered “cold press.” Another step in the process is to filter out any remaining impurities. They mix a dried seaweed powder with the oil, which causes the impurities to stick to the seaweed and fall to the bottom of the filter bin.

The Spanish olive oil was more of a golden color, unlike the greenish cast of the Italian olive oil we learned about last year. It wasn’t as flavorful, either, although the garlic-infused oil was tasty!

Then we carried on to the village of Alfarnatejo, population 168, for a home-hosted lunch. Unfortunately, this encounter didn’t include conversing with our host as we did in Zimbabwe. We were simply served a delicious rural meal by our friendly but non-English-speaking hostess.

After getting settled in to our hotel in Granada, the group went out for a light meal at a tapas bar. Note the emphasis on bar—the process here was that you order a drink and they’ll bring you whatever they have on offer to share with your table mates. Then, if you want more ‘free’ food, you need to order another drink. We got two rounds and were satisfied with that.

Capping off the night, we took a taxi to a viewpoint of the Alhambra at night—a great way to end the day.Read more