APULICA / FRUIT, VEGETABLES AND PULSES
Aitana olive of the Tifatini hills
Slow Food Presidium · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Campania
In brief
- A table-olive cultivar from the Tifatini hills north of Caserta, grown mainly in San Prisco, Santa Maria Capua Vetere and Sant'Angelo in Formis. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini)
- It is picked by hand only, fully ripe, when the skin turns from pink to glossy black; the soft flesh comes off the stone between two fingers. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini)
- Traditionally it is debittered in water and kept in a brine of salt and red vinegar. (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini)
History and origin
The Aitana olive is a cultivar born on the Tifatini hills, which embrace Caserta to the north and reach as far as Capua. Its main centre was, and still is, San Prisco, but the whole hill belt was once covered in olive groves, so much so that trees of this variety can still be found some ten kilometres from the village.
The name means «from Gaeta», but it does not indicate a link with the Itrana olive: according to the Presidium it was simply a name given to especially good table olives.
For generations San Prisco traders took it to the markets of the Aversa plain, the north of the province of Naples and as far as Molise, where it was much appreciated; from a product for family use it became an economic and social asset for the small town. Then manual-only harvesting, grafting of oil olives and the abandonment of the countryside put it at risk. After entering the Ark of Taste it became a Slow Food Presidium.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini · Regione Campania — Oliva Tifatina o del Tifata (prodotto tradizionale)
Area and method of production
The Presidium area covers San Prisco, Santa Maria Capua Vetere and Sant'Angelo in Formis; the Campania Region, in its sheet on the Tifatina olive, extends the area to the whole Tifatini range, from Capua to Caserta, Castel Morrone, Maddaloni and Santa Maria a Vico.
The olives are picked fully ripe, between November and January, in several rounds and only by hand, because the trees are large and the ground steep. The right moment is when the skin turns from pink to glossy black, covered by a bloom called «panno», and the flesh shades from white to wine red, the so-called «insanguinamento».
Like all table olives they must be debittered. In the traditional method they are washed in running water, rest in water in large containers disinfected with wine vinegar and finally go into brine, with 70 grams of salt per kilo of olives and red vinegar. Presidium growers follow rules that ban chemicals in the field and protect traditional harvesting and processing.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini · Regione Campania — Oliva Tifatina o del Tifata (prodotto tradizionale)
How to recognise it
The Aitana is a table olive coloured pink, reddish or black, with a shape ranging from round to oval. The regional sheet gives a maximum diameter of about 2.7 centimetres and an average weight of about 5 grams per olive, with a smooth surface.
Its most distinctive trait is the flesh: so soft that it can be pulled from the stone with two fingers.
The brine also has a recognisable look: a bright, clear wine red, with a lactic scent and a light note of vinegar. The olives are packed in brine, in glass jars or food containers of various sizes.
Sources: Regione Campania — Oliva Tifatina o del Tifata (prodotto tradizionale) · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini
In the kitchen
The Aitana is above all a table olive, eaten as it is after brining. Its soft flesh and the flavour that comes from preservation with salt and red vinegar make it a simple, typical starter of the Caserta area.
The preparation, entirely by hand, and its ingredients have remained the same for centuries, according to the Campania Region, and this very faithfulness to tradition has drawn the attention of scholars and businesses in the sector.
In recent years cultivation has been growing again, also by grafting the table olive onto trees meant for oil, and a number of local artisan workshops handle its processing. In brine, the olive is available all year round.
Sources: Regione Campania — Oliva Tifatina o del Tifata (prodotto tradizionale) · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini
Where to taste it
The Aitana olive is found on the Tifatini hills, north of Caserta: in San Prisco, its historic and trading centre, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, ancient Capua, and in Sant'Angelo in Formis, on the slopes of Monte Tifata. Olive groves on steep slopes frame these places so rich in history.
The harvest, from November to January, is when the olives change colour on the trees and brining begins. Member producers are listed on the Slow Food Presidium page, which also aims to make the Tifatini hills better known.
In brine, the olive is available all year round.
Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini · Regione Campania — Oliva Tifatina o del Tifata (prodotto tradizionale)
Protection
- Slow Food Presidium — oliva-aitana-dei-colli-tifatini (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini)
When
- Harvest: January, November–December (Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva Aitana dei Colli Tifatini)
- Winter
- Autumn