Crushed, brined or salt cured: Gaeta olives are excellent with Itrian bread.
Origin
Gaeta olives (Protected Denomination of Origin) is the commercial name for the Itrana olive, a cultivar that’s common in lower Lazio in the hills of Itri. This variety has been well known since ancient times–Virgil mentioned it in the Aeneid when the sailors from Aeneas arrive in the gulf of Gaeta. There they collect olives that had fallen from the trees along the coast and into the sea. They knew immediately that the seawater had removed their bitterness and made them sweet and delicious. These olives spread in the 1400s when the duchy of Gaeta exported them to all the main sea ports in the Mediterranean. Itrana olives were popular throughout the Renaissance, and especially loved by Duke Ercole I d’Este. This native Lazio grows along the Lepini mountains facing the sea, still using a traditional farming method known as all’itrana.
Cookit
Olives are harvested in the springtime when they are a deep violet color. They are still bitter at this point, so they’re left in fresh water to take the edge off, and are then brined for 5 months. The result is a wine-red olive with a slight vinegary bite — they’re perfect with salted cod. Oil from Gaeta olives has an unmistakeable flavor: fruity but sharp and slightly bitter. They are excellent in sauces, especially pasta “alla puttanesca”, and they work well with endive, pine nuts and raisins. They’re also a key ingredient in the famous “tiella laziale”, a type of stuffed pastry.
Did you know
Olives are harvested in the springtime when they are a deep violet color. They are still bitter at this point, so they’re left in fresh water to take the edge off, and are then brined for 5 months. The result is a wine-red olive with a slight vinegary bite — they’re perfect with salted cod. Oil from Gaeta olives has an unmistakeable flavor: fruity but sharp and slightly bitter. They are excellent in sauces, especially pasta “alla puttanesca”, and they work well with endive, pine nuts and raisins. They’re also a key ingredient in the famous “tiella laziale”, a type of stuffed pastry.
