Oliva Bianchera
Bianchera Olive
Friuli grows little oil but has grown it a long time: ancient trees between Trieste and the Karst attest that the olive settled on this corner of the Adriatic with the Phoenicians and then the Romans, though the frost of 1929, worse here than the famous one of 1985, killed 90 percent of the region's trees. The regional variety is the Bianchera, Belica in Slovene, probably out of San Dorligo della Valle and Muggia: vigorous, long fruiting branches, narrow slightly curled leaves, and a natural resistance to the bora, to cold and to chalky soil.
Designation
- Certification
- Slow Food Presidium
- Category
- Oils and fats
Where it is made
the Trieste Karst and coast
How it is made
The plots are too small to mechanise, so growing and picking are done by hand. The drupes ripen late and unevenly, turning from pale yellow-green to purplish red, and are taken as the colour turns, with the first cold of autumn. The oil is fresh and fruity with a marked bitterness.