Harvesting time

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Charithea

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #15 on: August 23, 2020, 01:08:43 PM »
Since it is still hot here and a refreshing dessert is most welcome after lunch I thought of sending in a Mediterranean recipe. It is a vegan recipe.  It is tied to harvesting almonds, use of rose petal/orange blossom water from our med gardens. It is called Balouza. You can use a normal tea cup or an American cup as the measure of the ingredients.
I cup of corn starch, 71/2cups of water, 1/2cup of orange/rose water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2cup of blanched chopped almonds. Put 7 cup of water in a saucepan and add the cup of sugar. Put to heat at  low temp. . Mix cornflour with 1/2cup of rose/blossom water and the remaining half cup of water,  pour mixture in warmed water. Keep stirring mixture until it start to boil , turn down heat and continue to stir for a minute . Add chopped almonds. Pour cooked mixture into a large glass bowl. Leave to cool then refrigerate to set. Serve balouza with rose water and a few ice cubes. Sprinkle  with more sugar if desired. This recipe is similar to the Lebanese one but instead of water milk is used .
« Last Edit: August 23, 2020, 02:51:09 PM by Charithea »
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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Charithea

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Re: Olive Harvest
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2021, 05:10:00 PM »
I had promised to send some photos taken during the olive picking.  My skinny cousin and I on the old tree. We are both 70 plus.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2021, 05:20:51 PM by Charithea »
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

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JTh

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #17 on: January 26, 2021, 07:34:25 PM »
Lucky you, we had to leave our olive trees last summer and there was no chance we could harvest our olive trees. Fortunately, it was not a good year, plenty ofolive fruit fly damage was evident  already in August, so I suppose most of the olives would have fallen down before we could harvest them, anyhow.
Retired veterinary surgeon by training with a PhD in parasitology,  but worked as a virologist since 1992.
Member of the MGS  since 2004. Gardening in Oslo and to a limited extent in Halkidiki, Greece.

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Charithea

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #18 on: January 27, 2021, 02:48:06 PM »
It is a shame that you did not have a chance to pick at least some of them. You seem to have the same love and nostalgia my Canadian cousin has for the olives. I was 'lucky' that both my London born nephew and my cousin were around to help me. My sister is getting old and her husband had heart surgery.  I was relieved  when we finished. It was an arduous job. We worked out the man hours it took and what we got back in return and we found we were short changed. I pick the olives out of 'duty' because my mother 'gifted' me the trees and because my 82 year old sister blackmails me emotionally. My nephew selected green olives and put them in vinegar and black olives salted. He loves them and is proud that he did not buy them.
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

David Dickinson

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #19 on: January 28, 2021, 01:04:14 AM »
Short-changed? You obviously don't pay the same price for first rate oil as we do in Rome. We'd have to take out a mortgage to buy the amount you must get. I am sure it is the same for in Cyprus - here around Rome you rarely see people climbing into the tree. They spread a large net under the tree and shake it (the tree, that is), perhaps returning to the tree several times to get all the olives off. I've also seen people running a garden rake through the branches to loosen the olives and get them to fall onto the net spread out on the ground. Enjoy your well-earned oil :-)
I have a small garden in Rome, Italy. Some open soil, some concrete, some paved. Temperatures in winter occasionally down to 0°C. Summer temperatures up to 40°C in the shade. There are never watering restrictions but, of course, there is little natural water for much of June, July and August.

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Charithea

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #20 on: January 28, 2021, 07:59:10 PM »
David our olive trees are rather old and the variety are like they ones you find in the Holy Land.  Their branches used to almost touch the ground. From the very beginning these trees had their roots in the brook that carried the  seasonal river water to the medieval sugar mill and in the summer the water from the bore hole for irrigating the adjoining fields. The field also use to have the 24 hour flooding during the snow melt.  In the 1980s our river was dammed and hence no more water. The trees still produced lots of olives until the branches became brittle from lack of water and broke.  We had them pruned professionally to help them cope with the loss of water but they have never recovered their old glory or output.  it is necessary to climb up the tree to hand pick them Traditionally we used to put all the olives collected from the other family trees together and then sorted the olives for putting in brine or to salt them and then finally shared the oil. This year we had two large containers which  were shared with my sister, the two smaller ones were given to my nephew. From my one container 5 liters went to our daughter , one liter to my cousins a few bottles to friends.  I use what is left for salads and bought a container of oil from my gardening friend for 80 euros for my cooking.  Photos of our trees.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2021, 08:07:21 PM by Charithea »
I garden in Cyprus, in a flat old farming field, alt. approx. 30 m asl.

Umbrian

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Re: Harvesting time
« Reply #21 on: January 29, 2021, 08:27:28 AM »
Sad but beautiful photos of your trees Charithea - amazing how they have struggled to survive despite the changing conditions - a lesson for us all perhaps in these trying times.
MGS member living and gardening in Umbria, Italy for past 19 years. Recently moved from my original house and now planning and planting a new small garden.