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Cilento crushed salella olives

Slow Food Presidium · PAT · Fruit, vegetables and pulses · Campania

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked:

In brief

History and origin

The dark green of olive trees and the blue of the sea are the colours of the Cilento coast: centuries-old trees along the coast road alternate with younger groves and with trees no longer tended. In the upper Cilento the olive has shaped the landscape since time immemorial, and here a variety of unknown origin has spread, the salella, which locals also call lioi, licinella, monticedda or salentina.

Crushing olives is an old tradition of farming families: a patient task, repeated day after day through the season, whose entirely manual technique and ingredients, according to the Campania Region, have not changed over time.

The Slow Food Presidium brings together farmers and oil producers who have kept this custom alive and continue it beyond home use. It is supported by the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park and by the municipalities of Pollica, Casal Velino and San Mauro Cilento, and sees the salella as a driver for the area's agricultural revival.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento · Regione Campania — Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento (prodotto tradizionale)

Area and method of production

The Campania Region names as the production area the olive groves of many municipalities in the Cilento National Park, including Agropoli, Capaccio, Castellabate, Casal Velino, Castelnuovo Cilento, Montecorice, Pollica, Perdifumo, Prignano Cilento, San Mauro Cilento, Stella Cilento, Rutino and Torchiara.

The fleshiest olives, still unripe, are chosen on the tree. Within the day they are washed, crushed one by one with a sea stone and pitted; then they stay in water for three to five days, changed morning and evening, to lose their bitterness. Next comes the brine, made with water, salt, bay leaf and wild fennel, a different batch for each picking.

The olives are then pressed to remove excess water and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano or thyme, and sometimes chilli, and packed tightly into jars so that they do not soak up oil and turn soft. The Presidium requires extra virgin oil of the same salella variety. The work is repeated from late September to November, and according to the regional sheet the product is ready four to six months after packing.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento · Regione Campania — Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento (prodotto tradizionale)

How to recognise it

The crushed salella olive is a split, pitted half olive, semi-oval in shape, with the edges of the flesh frayed lengthwise. It is small: 8 to 12 millimetres across and 15 to 20 long. The colour ranges from light to dark green, with slight browning along the cracks.

The flesh is firm and crunchy, the flavour balanced and not sour, with bitter and peppery sensations, notes of green apple and a hint of almond.

The salella tree grows upright with a dense crown of narrow, very dark green leaves, so that it can resemble an ornamental olive; it ripens slightly earlier than other varieties. Its oil is balanced, with light bitter and peppery notes, grassy hints and touches of almond.

Sources: Regione Campania — Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento (prodotto tradizionale) · Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento

In the kitchen

Crushed olives are served just as they come from the jar, dressed with extra virgin olive oil and the flavourings used in their preparation: garlic, oregano or thyme, bay leaf and fennel, sometimes a little chilli. They are a simple starter or side in Cilento farmhouse cooking, which shows off their crunchy flesh and slightly bitter taste.

Their natural partner is oil from the same variety, in which they are preserved, together with local bread. They belong to the Cilento way of eating that Ancel and Margaret Keys studied at length from 1944, and which gave rise to the name Mediterranean Diet.

Being preserved in oil, they are available all year round.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento · Regione Campania — Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento (prodotto tradizionale) · Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni — La Dieta Mediterranea

Where to taste it

The crushed salella olive belongs to the hills of the upper Cilento overlooking the sea, in the villages of the Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park: from Agropoli and Castellabate to Montecorice, Pollica, San Mauro Cilento and Casal Velino, as far as Stella Cilento, Perdifumo and Torchiara. Anyone visiting the Cilento coast passes through the ancient olive groves where it is born.

Between late September and November, the processing season, you can see the patient work of families crushing olives day after day. The Slow Food Presidium page lists the member producers from whom they can be bought.

In Pollica, one of the municipalities supporting the Presidium, the Park recalls the stay of the Keys, linking this product to the history of the Mediterranean diet.

Sources: Fondazione Slow Food — Presidio Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento · Regione Campania — Oliva salella ammaccata del Cilento (prodotto tradizionale) · Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni — La Dieta Mediterranea

Protection

When

Where

Campania