Very often, what we enjoy today as a culinary specialty originally arose from the need the poorer classes had to ensure their own alimentary survival. In places where the weather conditions did not allow storing the most perishable commodities in natural ice-houses, which were usually holes dug in the ground covered with snow and able to keep food for a few months, the gastronomic tradition was enriched in new methods of food preservation.
This happened for the salted preserves prepared in the fall consisting of olives, the most famous of which were the flattened ones prepared through several washes in water and stored under weight in their brine. Different techniques and recipes have been carefully handed down: ‘in salamoia’, olives in water and salt, covered with cloves, fennel seeds, bay leaves, or other flavourings; ‘sott’olio’, olives in salt, covered with oil, pepper, or other spices and other flavourings; ‘nere infornate’, ripe olives, put in salted water for a day, then dried in a wood-fired oven at a low temperature; ‘sotto sale’, freshly picked olives, crushed with a stone and left in a container filled with water for 10 days. They are then placed in an earthenware pot, covered with water and salt, and with a superimposed weight made of stone or a wooden disc; ‘schiacciate’, freshly picked olives, crushed and left in a container filled with water for 10 days. They are then placed in a container and covered with chopped hot peppers, garlic, fennel, and olive oil, with a superimposed weight made of stones or a wooden disc.
Tradition based on olives
Among the companies which keep the ancient traditions and recipes, also revised, based on olives, there is ‘Morabito’ in the province of Reggio Calabria.
It has produced for more than 40 years olives and products in oil characterized by tastes and flavours typical of Italian and Calabrian tradition. Its flagship is the wide range of table olives, some of which are trademarked, such as the ‘Bariole’, «a perfect blend of innovation and tradition for a unique product, characterized by unique taste», as Antonio Palattella, commercial director and export manager of the company, says.
These olives are produced with love and dedication by operators who for more than 40 years have prepared olives aiming at innovation as for taste and packaging. Thanks to the packaging in stabilizer sachet, the aromas and flavours of the Italian and Calabrian tradition are preserved. So, they can arrive all over Europe, in America, Canada, Australia. All the products by Morabito are certified by ISO9001: 2008.
The olives, black or green, in oil and natural, are excellent as appetizers, side dishes, used as a topping for pizzas, breads, flat breads, but also in order to flavour first or second courses.
The Olive al forno
The Morabito ‘Olive al Forno’ are excellent for enriching salads, but also meat courses. These olives are characterized by a fleshy pulp and a strong flavour. They are ideal for all Mediterranean appetizers, and not only for them, because they result to be palatable accompanied with meat courses. The ‘Olive Nere Condite alla Monacale’ are flavoured with spices which enhance their flavour. Palattella specifies: «Morabito takes care of all the processing stages, in order to ensure the consumer a high quality product».
The Morabito olives are original even in their nomenclature. This happens for the ‘Olive bariolé’, exclusively Italian, carefully selected and enriched with herbs which give them a unique flavour and taste. They are excellent for any appetizer as well as for meat courses, but also combined with prosecco and rose wines.
The Super Bariolè
The ‘Super bariolé olives’ represent a new product characterized by an extraordinary size: they are carefully chosen from the tree, lengthwise cut and flavoured according to old recipes from Calabria. Their flavour is unique, cheerfully spicy, but delicate, thus enriching with taste and look the best appetizers.
The ‘Schiacciate dell’Etna’ olives are a unique product, characterized by an unmistakable flavour that finds its origin in the ancient lands of Sicily. They are carefully collected at the roots of the homonymous famous Sicilian volcano and processed in exclusively natural way, without adding chemicals.
The Schiacciate dell'Etna
«Morabito, for over 40 years, have managed to create a product characterized by a yellow- gold colour, unalterable in time, and with an inimitable taste, given by both experience and passion for work».
The ‘Olive Schiacciate dal Fresco’, then, represent one of the flagships of Morabito products. They are Sicilian olives (coming from Nocellara dell’Etna) processed immediately after being harvested from the tree. They have always been treated in a quite natural way, according to a process which gives a unique colour and pleasant crunchiness. They are excellent seasoned with fresh ingredients and a touch of colour to any dish.
The ‘Olive Nere Schiacciate Condite’ are highly appreciated abroad. They are ideal for stuffing flat breads and pizzas, free from chemical treatments to guarantee that the taste of the product remains absolutely natural and, therefore, to ensure high quality of the product.
By means of the same methods used by the old patient housewives, the company produces with the same care the ‘Olive Schiacciatelle’, too, giving them the tastes and flavours of the past. The olives are chopped, crushed and enriched with typical aromas of Calabria.
