Olive oil from 1,000 year old olive trees hits the shelves

Barcelona (ACN).- On Friday the Fundació Alícia hosted an event to present the new 2010 millennium olive oil from Territori del Sénia. The president of the Associació Territori del Sénia, Pepi Cid, said the olive oil has a smooth, fruity, sweet and spicy flavour. According to him, these qualities come from one kind of olive, the farga olive, which can only be found in Territori del Sènia. The territory has the largest concentration of millennium olive trees in the world, with around 4,157 trees. According to Cid, they are “monuments that are worthy of being declared a World Heritage site”. In 2008 there was only one mill to produce the 1,000-year-old olive oil. Now there are 7: the Creu, Acomont, Alboredes, Monrebre, Cervol, Godall and Càlig.

The initiative is part of a pilot project funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs. The objective is to put the 4,000 existing millennium olive trees of Territori del Sénia into use. The Catalan Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Action, Joaquim Llena, attended the event. He stressed that the creation of the olive oil will give value to the territory. According to him, “it is a way of profiting from nature, putting it in a bottle and selling it.” The Minister said that these kinds of initiatives are very important in “dynamising the rural world”.

The Commonwealth of Territori del Sénia is comprised of 24 municipalities, 12 being Valencian, 9 Catalan and 3 Aragonese. The 1,000-year-old olive trees can be found in 18 of these municipalities and cover 14.5% of the territory. Olive oil production in the territory employs 13% of the population.

This harvest will produce 12,000 bottles of olive oil to be sold in speciality stores. According to Pepi Cid, commercialisation of the product still “needs to be refined”.