Let me explain you the work done by Finca Alamillos Prior in Jaen
It’s a family business running since 1892 which means is more than a century old and knowledge and passion is in their blood.
The olive groves are on a 20 hectareas site in the village of Jimena in Sierra Magina a natural area in Jaen, the epicenter of olive oil in Spain and we dare to say the world as 60 million trees are spread around it.
It´s located 750 metres above sea level and the main variety cultivated is Picual.
You can find Picual too in Tesco but it´s obviously not the same terroir, harvest method and extraction technique used to obtain the juice of the olive!
Theirs is a traditional extension, it means olive trees are separated between them around 7 metres so the tree has enough sun light straight to all their branches and air passes in between the trees and they can get as much rain and natural space to grow
The olives are picked by hand, do you know how much work this implies ? It protects as well the tree for future harvest and help maintain this natural environment. They own 2100 olive trees and right now the season has just started to start harvesting and processing the olives as quickly as possible
100.000 kilos of olive generate 20.000 litres of extra virgin olive oil
Time is of the essence as olives start losing their natural properties from the moment they are picked
Freshness is the key, no time to waste, they avoid fermentation by taking the olives straight to a cooperative where the malaxing process will take place. What does malaxing mean ? it means breaking the olives and and warming up the mass up to maximum 27 celsius degrees between 20 to 40 minutes.That’s why many people write cold press on their bottles. The extraction process must take place at a certain temperature to assure good quality and getting the category of extra virgin olive oil. After malaxing then the oil is taken to a machine called decanter centrifuge to separate the oil from the paste.
Can you imagine the impact on your noise of fresh extra virgin olive oil ? just fresh ground olives and plenty of tomato, figs and almonds reminiscences in huge number of liters ;-)
The juice obtainedis is filtered , Finca Alamillos del Prior has the label signal from CALIDAD CERTIFICADA ANDALUCIA
I met Mayte at World Olive Oil exhibition and had the chance to taste their oil and fell in love with it so here it is now available in London for you to taste , buy and enjoy in your homes.
I hope I can have the chance to visit their olive grove and touristic project very soon too.
I’d like to add a recipe to this blog so you can enjoy using Finca Alamillos with a good recipe from “fresh recipes with olive oil from leading chefs”
Carpaccio of monkfish with an avocado lime, ginger and evoo
Trim the monkfish fillet and form into the shape of a tournedo or filet mignon,steak. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer for 1 hour. This will make it easier to slide
To make the dressing mix the lime juice and extra virgin olive oil altogether with the ginger juice,chilli, salt pepper and coriander. Peel and dice the avocado and add it to the dressing
When the monkfish is semi frozen slice it very thinly with a meat slicer straight onto a plate, cover with dressing and serve.
Ingredients:
Serves 4:
180g monkfish fillet in one piece
Juice of 4 limes
125ml evoo
60g fresh ginger
1 red chilli finely chopped
Salt and pepper
30g coriander
1 avocado
1 tomato