On Sunday, March 3 the Sommariva family was a guest on the Mediaset program Mela Verde, airing every Sunday on Canale5.
The cameras of Mela Verde returned to record here after seven years, in fact back in 2012 the entire television crew had focused the spotlight on the historic oil mill acquired in the 1950s.
In the first part of the episode, presenter Hellen Hidding went to witness the olive harvest in the company of Agostino, the head of the family, to learn some secrets about olive growing. This year the harvest is exceptionally late, also thanks to the favorable position of the olive groves, located 400 m above sea level. The drupes are almost all ripe, only a few remain green; as Agostino explains, from the darker and riper olives, a sweeter oil is extracted, with a higher acidity and a slightly shorter shelf life.
- MAINA, our selection of Monocultivar Taggiasca Extra Virgin Olive Oil, with a delicate yet decisive flavor, excellent for dressing raw.
- BIO GENOESE PESTO, the traditional Genoese pesto, made with our homegrown DOP Genoese basil, and in addition to the traditional version, we also produce it without garlic, and vegan (without cheese).
- CAVIALE DEL CENTA, one of our historic products, a delicious cream of Taggiasca olives with anchovies and capers, ideal for dressing pasta, vegetables, and as a filling for sandwiches.
- ANCHOVY CREAM, it is UNIQUE, delicate, soft, enveloping…forget the usual anchovy taste. Recommended on a slice of bread, with cooked or raw vegetables, as a dressing for meat tartare or for pasta.
- TAGGIASCA OLIVES in brine, they are excellent for eating as an appetizer but also for adding to sauces, salads, baked fish…small but very flavorful!
The most widely cultivated variety on these typical terraces of the Riviera is the Taggiasca, in fact, 80% of the olives pressed throughout Liguria belong to this cultivar. The Taggiasca olives are small, rich in oil, and have an excellent yield.
Agostino then recalls how the harvest used to take place, when the entire oil production chain was not influenced by modern technologies. With a stick, the olives were beaten, collected from the white cloths spread on the ground, leafed through with a tool called a guitar, and subsequently placed in a container called a measure that allowed them to be quantified.
We can still see all the tools once dedicated to this purpose:
- the large central mill with the stone wheel, powered by the strength of an animal, crushed the olives
- the press allowed to squeeze the paste obtained previously to extract the solution of oil and water
- the baking sheet – a kind of inverted lid – was the tool with which the oil was separated from the water
- the demijohns where the oil was collected
Today, however, all this process has changed thanks to new techniques. Here are all the machines and the related steps that allow the transformation of olives into oil:
- the hopper where they are collected and transferred to the next machine
- a washer for olives that removes soil residues
- the pitter that separates the pulp from the pit (the latter is then used as fuel)
- the malaxer that processes the pulp turning it into oil which after about 20 minutes is transferred to a decanter
- the decanter that spins quickly separates the oil from the water and from the skin
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This is how the precious extra virgin olive oils are born, such as the prized Seena with D.O.P. Riviera Ligure di Ponente certification, Maina strictly from monocultivar Taggiasca, or Ruxia with Bio certification.
But from the entire production chain – subjected to strict controls and analyses – other tasty creations are bornsuch as the cream of Taggiasca olives and the caviar of the centa.
In the second part of the episode, Hellen finds herself in the Sommariva family kitchen. Here we meet Anna, Agostino's wife, who has prepared exquisite dishes of Ligurian tradition: the trofie with potatoes, green beans, and Genoese pesto, the gilt head bream seasoned with pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, Taggiasca olives, cima, and stockfish. Delicious products such as the wild arugula cream – made with organic arugula grown on the family farm – and the cream of tomatoes, perfect sauces to accompany with bread crostini or raw vegetables, for a special snack or appetizer.
We also get to know the farm with its crops of pesto, arugula, dill, and the king of the plain of Albenga, the artichoke. It is also properly cleaned, processed, and preserved in oil. One cannot forget the condiments such as oils flavored with herbs or citrus, and the small but special production of wines.
In the end, we meet Alice, the fifth generation of the family, who presents the latest addition to the Sommariva household, born thanks to her: the extra virgin olive oil You. It is a monocultivar Taggiasca oil, the result of a very noble and important project aimed at supporting all women who fight their own battles, in fact, part of the proceeds from the sales of You will be donated to charity.
In short, the Sommariva company formed by Agostino, Anna, Alice, and GB along with all the collaborators is a small great family, where from generation to generation important values such as respect for the land, passion, and commitment to their work are carried forward.