Istrian liquid gold tasting

No harvest is complete without sampling some fruits of labour. It is no different with olive harvest. As it is evident from the previous post, we recently participated in an olive harvest in Istria, Croatia.

After all the work for the day was done olives were taken to the press. Since picked olives soon start to oxidise it is essential to squeeze the oil out of them as soon as possible.

Luckily for us, this meant we had a chance to try out some of the freshly produced oil. Any extra virgin olive oil tastes good in its own way but this was extra delicious. The colour, the smell and the taste of it were very strong and fresh.

I just could not resist and had to make myself a little gourmand snack. It consisted of home grown cherry tomatoes, small pieces of goat cheese and a healthy dose of olive oil. A piece of bread and a glass of good white wine fit in perfectly.

I guess you will believe me when I tell you it was all gone and the plate cleaned with a little piece of bread before I could snap a photo of it. Simple and delicious!

Clicking on any one of above photos will reveal them both in a more flattering resolution.

Read more...

Olive harvest in full swing

We spent last weekend in Istria, Croatia - near the charming little hill town of Grožnjan. We have visited Istria many times before but this time the main reason for visiting was to get an insight into secrets of the Istrian liquid gold. That is a local synonym for olive oil which symbolizes healthy lifestyle and longevity.

At the time of my visit, olive harvest was in full swing. Those of you unfamiliar with the olive business might not know this, but November is usually the time for olive harvest throughout the northern Mediterranean.

I am a huge fan of olive oil - the Extra-virgin olive oil that is. For olive oil to obtain that title it can contain no more than 0.8 percent of free acidity and is judged to have a superior taste. Some fruitiness in its taste is common and it can have no sensory defects.
Since it contains unsaturated fatty and oleic acids, it is rich in antioxidants and polyphenoles that were proved by modern medicine to have significant impact on the overall well-being.

The taste of the final product also varies depending on the olive varieties used. Varieties grown in Istria are: Buža, Istarska Bjelica, Leccino, Pendolino and also some others.

Despite my affection to the delicious product this has been my first time to participate in an olive harvest. I guess apart from some mechanical equipment involved, the picking procedure has not changed a lot since the ancient times.

First we laid nets and large cloth sheets around each individual olive tree. Than olives were shaken off from branches to the ground using small rakes, various mechanical tools and last but not least our hands. Afterwards it was quite easy to gather them into large boxes to be loaded onto a tractor trailer.

Back at the farm olives are sorted with a use of a special machine. In this way olives are separated from leaves and little branches and put into bags. They take them to the press as soon as possible and get olive oil ready for immediate use. There are a few modern presses nearby and they make sure everything is kept under the highest standards.

For olive oil to be of top quality (and to earn that extra-virgin title) it is essential not to be heated over 27 degrees Celsius at any time during the pressing procedure.

After a day of picking olives we were lucky enough to also sample some fresh olive oil. It had a very strong, fresh smell and was a bright green colour. It might be pretty obvious but I just have to put it in writing - It was delicious!

If you ever find yourself in that region do not let those famous local truffles take all of your attention. Take some time to also taste some of the local liquid gold. It is a safe bet to wander to a random farm in the Istrian countryside and find some top quality olive oil. If you do not strike gold, they will definitely kindly point you in the right direction.

Read more...

Charming hill towns of Istria

As I already mentioned a couple of posts earlier (click) I recently visited some charming hill towns of central Istria, Croatia.


If I had to pick one of them, Groznjan (Grožnjan in Croatian) would be my favourite choice. Ancient feel of this town is really hard to ignore. It seems like time has stopped on that particular hill. When we were driving towards it, I wasn't sure we were on the right way at all. When we finally reached the town, parking lots were full of cars - only a few license plates were local. This seemed a bit strange, since from a distance it really looked like a small and peaceful medieval town.

Today Groznjan is an artist colony, which is a result of the Croatian government’s effort to save hill towns from abandonment by offering cheap rents to artists. This seems like a good solution since the town was abandoned by its mainly Italian inhabitants after the Second World War. That happened when Istria was given from Italy to Yugoslavia.


It is a small town but offers many beautiful vistas and picturesque narrow stone alleyways to wander. Every corner is filled with flower pots and various examples of local art. Definitely a right place to just wander around and soak in the positive vibe. I think the artistic touch on the above photo captures the atmosphere of this town perfectly.


On one of the many town squares we found a promising tavern called Bastia and enjoyed a great meal topped with a glass of superb red wine. All that for a very reasonable price. Since M. is not too fond of truffles, we left them for our next visit. I definitely recommend you visit this place when in the neighborhood.

Read more...

Truffle days in Istria

For as long as I can remember, we have been vacationing in coastal towns of Croatian Istria. I guess that's mainly because Istria is a really close to Slovenia. Now this peninsula is a part of Croatia, but when I was still a boy, Slovenia and Croatia were both parts of Yugoslavia.

I drove through the Istrian peninsula many times but I can't say I have spent much time exploring the central part of it. Lately it is marketed as “the new Tuscany” and I must say there definitely is a resemblance. Unfortunately until recently I was always speeding past those charming old hill towns, just to get to a seaside destination of choice as quickly as possible.

A couple of weeks ago I had a different plan. Together with M. we decided to taste the land of truffles. It was a two day trip and we are not sorry we did it. We saw some great stuff and enjoyed delicious local food.


We started with a visit of Motovun - a town where once a year a film festival takes place. The town sits on a highest hill in the neighbourhood and is surrounded with lots of smaller hills. I guess that is the strategic advantage its founders many centuries ago were looking for.
That's also the reason we spotted it from far away. We parked our car on the slope of the hill and walked into town (only residents are allowed to drive into town). Charming, narrow streets are literally impregnated with the smell of truffles.


If you don't know that specific (almost unique) truffle smell, it is really hard to explain it. The closest description I have heard so far is: "a combination of musk, nuts, and ozone". If you think you have a better description, please share it with me.
We took a chance to compare black truffles to famous white ones. Almost every shop offers free samples of truffle paste and wine. I couldn't say the two kinds of truffle paste tasted all that different. However I am not an expert on this, so I might have overlooked an important detail or two. For the truffle ignorant people out there, let me just point to the financial side of this delicacy.
A kilogram of black truffles costs a couple of hundred Euros (usually around 400 EUR), which is nothing compared to it's white relative. Since it is considered to be superior in smell and taste to the black truffle, a kilogram of white truffles can cost a couple of thousands of Euros (usually around 2.000 EUR).

The financial part aside, dishes seasoned with truffles are definitely not one of those things everyone would like the first time. Well... we found out M. was one of those people. Let's just say she didn't like the smell of Motovun. At all.

That was one of the reasons we decided to move on without enjoying a proper meal. We headed for the town of Groznjan (or Grožnjan) and after that we also visited supposedly the smallest town on the planet - Hum (more about that in the next post). The nearby town of Livade was left for our next visit.


Before we left it, we also stopped at the town cemetery, which offers a great view of the town.

If you have a chance to visit these parts, this time of year might be the best time to do it. There are many things going on at the moment in central Istria. For more information check out this official list of truffle events.

Read more...