Special Guests: Tenuta Chiaramonte, Ragusa, Sicily
This fall we were travelling on the very heel of the Italian boot in Salento region. Cities of Fasano, Ostuni, Monopoli, Carovigno, Brindisi are all surrounded by olive groves.
Olive oil in Vilnius supermarkets is mainly from Spain. And then we‘re used to classifying it into 2 sorts only: too bitter and bitter but bearable. Therefore I had no great interest in olive oil before.
Italian prosciutto, pizza and abundance of pastry in a café famous in that province. Majority of pastry and cakes of all sorts was of Sicilian origin. The town where we stayed is called Torre dell’Orso and the café’s name is Dentoni. The high season was over. On workdays there were no more than 10-15 people bathing on the beach. Air temperature was +23 C, and water temperature was about +23 as well. Numerous villas stayed closed. But on the weekends – even though it was already October, - 150 seats café Dentoni was crowded, just fully packed with locals from neighboring towns. The best testimony of how delicious was their pastry.
When we returned from Italy to Vilnius, there was a surprise awaiting us – a parcel from Sicily with olive oil of Tenuta Chiaramonte!
Tenuta representative Erik Ini explained it all in details in his letter: “We’re sending you our olive oil in a small package. One of these oils is DPO “Monti Iblei”, of Gulfi zone, which is made by pressing olives Tonda Iblea (we have almost a thousand of those trees, 300 of them are very ancient olives, growing near small town Chiaramonte Gulfi, not far from Ragusa. They’re characterized by a steady fruit scent, a bit bitter and spicy, and typical for Tonda Iblea flavor resembling that of green tomatos.
The other one is DPO Monti Iblei, zone Valle dell”Irminio, made by pressing olives of Moresca and Verdese from 13 000 olive trees, growing in a beautiful valley of Irminio, facing the sea. Its characteristics are fruity scent of middle intensity with a light herbal aftertaste which can be perceived as bitter and spicy as well, with typical descriptor of 2 sorts – Moresca and Verdese – which can be explained by artichoke flavor.
We also included 2 gift boxes which we call “Sicilinabox” where you can find pasta, made of typical Russello grain, tomato sauce of Ragusa style, oregano, capers and a small bottle of DPO Gulfi. On the side of the box there’s a recipe how to cook a Sicilian dish in 20 minutes with ingredients found in the box”
How olive oil is processed in "Tenuta Chiaramonte" in pictures:
Well, we didn’t hesitate the turn on the cooker. First of all we tasted the olive oil of Gulfi zone to make sure it indeed has a green tomato scent. Yes, it does resemble a green tomato when it comes to flavor. Very delicious. And not bitter. As for Monti Iblei of Valle dell’ Irminio zone it’s more of a bitter taste. This is the olive oil made of olives growing near the sea. But we liked it as well, its taste and even design of the bottles. That day just in few minutes we fell in love with Sicilian olive oil of Tenuta Chiaramonte and even felt a bit of connoisseurs.
It was also the first time we heard about Chiaramonte Gulfi. This is actually the name of Sicilian town which is also called the balcony of Sicily, thanks to its unique panoramic location which allows to view many parts of Sicily: up to Etna in the north, and the Mediterranean sea in the south, as well as Erei mountains in the west. Back to olive oil: I need to note that oil Monti Iblei of Gulfi zone has received numerous national and global awards in recent years.
Well, we cooked the Sicilian dish faster than it was promised on the box.
And here are photos from our olive oil tasting at home in Vilnius. We were taking pictures and checking pasta at the same time. Well, we should have checked the quality of the pictures instead… It turns out that food came first for us, and the arts came second.
«To offer you a high quality organic olive oil we took care of every single stage of production process according to traditions: from sowing to harvesting, from pressing to bottling and storage so that you could enjoy our final product made in harmony with nature.
For us faith in organic production is a dual ethic choice, because it allows us to improve our health and mind the resources of our planet” – this is the quote from the company’s website. We, of course, tried to taste olive oil in harmony with nature as well – nature was represented by my still life Bouquet of gladiolus in the bucket, but that was fragile harmony.
Tenuta Chiramonte has also an hotel, consisting of 12 rooms, located in an oasis of peace and nature with a magnificent view on countryside and coast of Iblei.
The hotel is located in Irminio valley, which gradually descends to the river on one side and to the sea on the other.
There’s another very pleasant addition to the hotel – Le Gramole restaurant.
“A simple and exquisite restaurant which renews its menu every season, Le Gramole ideally fits guests wishing to taste fine dishes with local flavors in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere. It’s a place where everything is designed in such a way that you could spoil yourself and feel at home” Well, I’ll try to illustrate this citation with pictures…
Taking into account that Tenuta Chiaramonte doesn’t produce wine, but olive oil only, I decided to publish this story under category “Special Guests” so that you, dear readers, may know about our new friends from the coast of sunny Sicily.
Sergey Evtuhov, author of the project "Yellow Road"
