Visit at Olive & Artichoke farm

Our wondering around Cote d’Azur brought us to Italy this time. We were exploring Liguria/Imperia region. Imperia is well known for cultivation of olives and artichokes.

 

It is always nice to visit Olives festival, where I (Zuzana) also met Claudia.

Claudia and her twin siter Paola own a farm called lI Cole degli Ulivi in a village called Diano Marina in Imperia.

lI Cole degli Ulivi was founded by Claudia’s and Paola’s Grandfather Adelmo in 50’s and is run by 4 family members working side by side with 8 employees.

Farm is producing olives, artichokes and tomatoes for local market.

 

We love to use Artichokes in our dishes. At lI Cole degli, they grow two types of artichokes:

I Tema are quite big, purple and they have few thorns so it is easier to clean them. This type makes 7-8 artichokes sometimes only 1. These artichokes are harvested from mid-October/November until January.

Another type of Artichokes is called Spinosi and they have a lot of thorns, they are smaller and you can eat them raw.  They are harvested from January until spring.

Farm doesn’t stock artichokes – they cut them freshly on the day of delivery so they can secure freshness, high quality and very important part - crunchiness.

Last two years were dry years, when Claudia and her family struggled with decision if they should water artichokes. If temperatures at night drops to 0 or 1 degree there is a chance that if you water artichokes, they can freeze. 

Claudia’s husband is the chef and he has a restaurant at the farm, where he cooks only with local ingredients. His specialty is for artichoke carbonara with homemade pasta.

Olives which cultivated at the farm are called Taggiasca.

 

Taggiasca is a small, fruity aromatic Italian olive.

Taggiasca olives which are named after the village of Taggia in Linguria were brought here by the Benedictine monks of San Colombano.

The Taggiasca is harvested when it is a little darker - ranging in colours from brown-green to brown-purple. The variation in colours is connected to the purity of this natural product. 

Special combination of soil, water and climate of this region give the taggiasca olive a unique taste and consistency. 

One more reason making this a special kind is the olive harvest, which takes place even in the traditional way – manually. Since olive trees are quite tall, they need a special care and therefore no special machines are used for the harvest which takes place in November.Tomatoes are also grown at this farm together with artichokes and olives. lI Cole degli Ulivis specializes in variety of big tomatoes, especially Coure di bue (beef steak tomatoes) .

We visited in February and plants had flowers already!

Claudia and Paola are always inventing new sauces - like the sauce made of green tomatoes which we got the chance to try. This delicious and quite unique green tomato sauce is usually paired with formaggio stagionato (Italian hard cheese).

Claudia is also spreading the word about vegetable production. Groups of pupils are visiting regularly, and Claudia is teaching them about different kinds of vegetables, lets them try veggies and she is also showing them how they are grown.

 

We would like to thank to Claudia for showing us her beautiful farm, where she puts lots of hard work into producing this beautiful and delicious vegetables.

 

Zuzana & Veronika