This is not the origin story of Popeye’s girlfriend. Sorry if that is what you were expecting. It is also not a collection of recipes using this wonderful food. As the pictures give away, it is my experience of visiting an olive oil museum!
This one is at the southern tip of the town of Bardolino on Lake Garda. The slopes along the eastern shore of Lake Garda happen to be the most northerly place in which olive groves survive. Probably because the proximity of the large body of water means the ground does not stay cold for long in winter.
The museum is home to a collection of traditional oil presses and shows a couple of films (with a choice of languages for the narration) describing the process. The first stage used to be grinding the olives, including their stones, to a pulp using stone grinders, often powered by donkeys walking in circles.
This pulp was then placed in round wicker bags which were piled on top of each other under a press. Once all the pulp from the day’s harvest had been placed under the press, or there was no more space for more pulp, the press was lowered to extract the liquids from the olive pulp.
Some of the old presses have a rotary pressing mechanism. The display also includes a very large press with a long heavy lever beam. The size of the press and the room in which it is displayed made it difficult to photograph, you will have to take my word for it!
During the pressing process, hot water would often be poured over the wicker bags to encourage the oil to become runnier and more of it to drip out of the bottom of the press faster.
Once all the liquid was pressed out of the olive pulp, it would be left to settle, so that the oil could rise to the top. It was then skimmed off the top of the container into which it was pressed and bottled for storage or consumption.
In the move to modernisation, motor-powered presses were introduced. The current approach to oil extraction is centrifugal forces. Early centrifugal extractors are also on display.
There were some display boards giving information on olives and where they grow as well as some of the ladders still used today to climb up olive trees with a single vertical pole.
I had hoped to learn more about the different types of olive oil, what makes it extra virgin, what temperates it can withstand and how to best integrate it into the diet. Despite this room for improvement, it is a nice collection of the heritage of olive oil production and as it is free to visit, an informative place on a rainy day at Lake Garda.
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