Olive Oil

The delicate scent of myriad flowers on our olive trees fills the air on a warm summer's day, intoxicating the bees who are assisting the wind with pollination.

By late October, the olive trees are laden with their heavy loads, bursting with olives. Day by day, one tree after another, we gather the ripe olives, chatting as we go, enjoying the last of this year's sunshine.

We are fortunate to live near an olive co-operative, and for the next month, we drop off basket after basket of our olives.

February arrives before we know it, and the olive oil is ready to collect. Then it's back home with the rich, green, shiny olive oil, which we will divide.

Some for the kitchen for the year ahead (kept pure and also infused with our chillies, rosemary, and thyme), some for gifts for friends to share, and the remainder for Hectors Apothicaire creams, balms, and salves added to our foraged wild fennel, rosehips, mint, and wild flowers.

As I make infused olive oils in the coming months I will share these recipes with you.