Home
Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World
Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a rowboat for her first book, Rowboat in a Hurricane - earning herself the distinction of being National Geographic Explorer of the Year - Julie Angus gained the support of National Geographic for Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World, this time exploring the Mediterranean by sailboat. "I have to say,"; says Joan Givner, who reviewed Angus' first book for BCBW, "this is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time.";
Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World by Julie Angus (Greystone $28.95)
ulie angus' mission in olive Odyssey is to discover how the olive tree spread from the Middle East to the other side of the Mediterranean.
A Master's degree in molecular biology equips her for an in-depth study of olive trees, combined with her proven resourcefulness as an adventurer.
Since Phoenician sailors were probably responsible for its propagation, Angus and her husband follow their trading route, gathering samples from ancient trees along the way. The resulting account is part travelogue and part compendium of facts about olives and olive oil.
The couple's odyssey starts in Spain, where for $11,000 they buy Isis, a 28-foot-long, second-hand sailboat. Their quest to find where the first olive tree originated takes them from Spain to the French Riviera and on to Corsica, where they tour the island by car and camp overnight. Eventually they arrive in Sardinia, make a side trip to Italy by ferry, and return to sell the sailboat. From there they fly to Greece, explore Crete and finally end their journey in the Middle East. Along the way they befriend a series of lively characters as they visit olive growers and experts in olive oil factories, museums and laboratories.
En route, Angus extols the health benefits of consuming olive oil-fewer cases of Alzheimer's and certain types of cancer, as well as greater longevity in regions where its consumption is high. That said, likely few readers will care to follow one centenarian's recommendation for longevity: drinking a cup of olive oil daily.
Angus also provides good advice on choosing oil. Caution is essential because the olive oil business is one of the most corrupt in the world. Fraud has been rampant from the beginning. A fifth century Roman cookbook lists tricks for disguising rancid or fetid oil; a Greek book gives a remedy for restoring oil into which a mouse has drowned, spoiling the flavour. (Suspend a handful of coriander over it!)
In the 1980s adulterated oil sickened twenty-five thousand people in Spain and killed a thousand. In 2011 two Spanish olive businessmen were jailed for selling thousands of litres of olive oil that was mostly sunflower oil. Others were arrested for selling a mix of avocado, palm, sunflower, and vegetable oil.
Place of origin for both olives and oil is often given incorrectly, since outside the European Union, laws for protecting origin and quality are unenforceable. Kalamata olives sold outside Europe have probably not even been grown in Greece. In order to remedy this situation, the Institute of Plant Genetics in Umbria is working to create markers that detect the source of the oil. Fortunately Canada, unlike the U.S., has an accredited government laboratory that tests olive oil. Even so, inferior oil on the supermarket shelves is commonly mislabelled. Adjectives such as "light,"; "pure"; and "extra light"; are applied to substandard oil that is refined using chemicals, a process that strips away both flavour and nutrients.
The highest grade of oil bears the label "extra virgin"; and comes from the first pressing of the olives, done by mechanical means, without using heat or chemicals. The acidity level is crucial and should be less than 0.8%. It must also pass a vigorous test. If it falls short, it drops to the next category-"virgin"; olive oil, with an acidity level of up to 1.5%. Oil that is really unsatisfactory and not fit for human consumption (this includes 50% of Mediterranean oil) can be used for industrial purposes. Yet it is often chemically refined, sold as cheap oil in supermarkets, and used in restaurants and pizzerias.
Advice for ordinary consumers and cooking experts on the hazards of selecting olive oil is perhaps the most practical aspect of the book, but Julie Angus also provides guidelines for hosting an olive oil tasting party (there are 250 types of olive oil flavours compared with wine's 450) and also appends a series of recipes. One is a Provencal recipe for cooking a chicken in a cup of olive oil with forty cloves of garlic.
For those who wish more background information on the food they ingest, Angus outlines the history and mythology of the olive tree and olive oil. Its uses have ranged from the medicinal and sacramental to the military. The Romans used it to lubricate their military machines. In the Middle Ages, boiling oil was poured from the battlements of castles to scald unwelcome invaders. At the Trevi olive museum in Umbria, she finds a bizarre list of folk remedies that include boiling a lizard in oil to reduce baldness and ringworm and boiling rusty nails in it to cure eye pain.
The travelogue part of the book is no less engaging than the scientific research. The couple weathers storms and mechanical difficulties with the boat, and the fact that they bring along their 10-month-old son adds to the personal side of the story. Angus is still breastfeeding Leif, who turns out to be colicky baby, causing his mother many disturbed nights. Nevertheless, along the way he develops a surprising taste for red pepper gratin and anchovies on toast. He even contributes to the research by testing the bitter olives from ancient trees. A historian notes that there is a similarity between the immature palates of babies and those of early humans.
Angus's initial interest in olive oil was sparked years earlier by a visit to her Syrian relatives who served fruit and oil from their own olive groves. The greatest disappointment of the trip is that the civil war prevents her from concluding it in Aleppo where it began. Yet she feels triumphant when the bags of samples are examined for their genetic structure at the Institute of Plant Genetics. They are found to provide evidence that it was the Phoenicians who spread the olive tree throughout Europe. 978-1553655145
Since reading Olive Odyssey, Joan Givner says she has become very discriminating in her selection of olive oil. Her latest young adult novel is The Hills Are Shadows (Thistledown Press).
Olive Odyssey: Searching for the Secrets of the Fruit that Seduced the World by Julie Angus (Greystone $28.95)
ulie angus' mission in olive Odyssey is to discover how the olive tree spread from the Middle East to the other side of the Mediterranean.
A Master's degree in molecular biology equips her for an in-depth study of olive trees, combined with her proven resourcefulness as an adventurer.
Since Phoenician sailors were probably responsible for its propagation, Angus and her husband follow their trading route, gathering samples from ancient trees along the way. The resulting account is part travelogue and part compendium of facts about olives and olive oil.
The couple's odyssey starts in Spain, where for $11,000 they buy Isis, a 28-foot-long, second-hand sailboat. Their quest to find where the first olive tree originated takes them from Spain to the French Riviera and on to Corsica, where they tour the island by car and camp overnight. Eventually they arrive in Sardinia, make a side trip to Italy by ferry, and return to sell the sailboat. From there they fly to Greece, explore Crete and finally end their journey in the Middle East. Along the way they befriend a series of lively characters as they visit olive growers and experts in olive oil factories, museums and laboratories.
En route, Angus extols the health benefits of consuming olive oil-fewer cases of Alzheimer's and certain types of cancer, as well as greater longevity in regions where its consumption is high. That said, likely few readers will care to follow one centenarian's recommendation for longevity: drinking a cup of olive oil daily.
Angus also provides good advice on choosing oil. Caution is essential because the olive oil business is one of the most corrupt in the world. Fraud has been rampant from the beginning. A fifth century Roman cookbook lists tricks for disguising rancid or fetid oil; a Greek book gives a remedy for restoring oil into which a mouse has drowned, spoiling the flavour. (Suspend a handful of coriander over it!)
In the 1980s adulterated oil sickened twenty-five thousand people in Spain and killed a thousand. In 2011 two Spanish olive businessmen were jailed for selling thousands of litres of olive oil that was mostly sunflower oil. Others were arrested for selling a mix of avocado, palm, sunflower, and vegetable oil.
Place of origin for both olives and oil is often given incorrectly, since outside the European Union, laws for protecting origin and quality are unenforceable. Kalamata olives sold outside Europe have probably not even been grown in Greece. In order to remedy this situation, the Institute of Plant Genetics in Umbria is working to create markers that detect the source of the oil. Fortunately Canada, unlike the U.S., has an accredited government laboratory that tests olive oil. Even so, inferior oil on the supermarket shelves is commonly mislabelled. Adjectives such as "light,"; "pure"; and "extra light"; are applied to substandard oil that is refined using chemicals, a process that strips away both flavour and nutrients.
The highest grade of oil bears the label "extra virgin"; and comes from the first pressing of the olives, done by mechanical means, without using heat or chemicals. The acidity level is crucial and should be less than 0.8%. It must also pass a vigorous test. If it falls short, it drops to the next category-"virgin"; olive oil, with an acidity level of up to 1.5%. Oil that is really unsatisfactory and not fit for human consumption (this includes 50% of Mediterranean oil) can be used for industrial purposes. Yet it is often chemically refined, sold as cheap oil in supermarkets, and used in restaurants and pizzerias.
Advice for ordinary consumers and cooking experts on the hazards of selecting olive oil is perhaps the most practical aspect of the book, but Julie Angus also provides guidelines for hosting an olive oil tasting party (there are 250 types of olive oil flavours compared with wine's 450) and also appends a series of recipes. One is a Provencal recipe for cooking a chicken in a cup of olive oil with forty cloves of garlic.
For those who wish more background information on the food they ingest, Angus outlines the history and mythology of the olive tree and olive oil. Its uses have ranged from the medicinal and sacramental to the military. The Romans used it to lubricate their military machines. In the Middle Ages, boiling oil was poured from the battlements of castles to scald unwelcome invaders. At the Trevi olive museum in Umbria, she finds a bizarre list of folk remedies that include boiling a lizard in oil to reduce baldness and ringworm and boiling rusty nails in it to cure eye pain.
The travelogue part of the book is no less engaging than the scientific research. The couple weathers storms and mechanical difficulties with the boat, and the fact that they bring along their 10-month-old son adds to the personal side of the story. Angus is still breastfeeding Leif, who turns out to be colicky baby, causing his mother many disturbed nights. Nevertheless, along the way he develops a surprising taste for red pepper gratin and anchovies on toast. He even contributes to the research by testing the bitter olives from ancient trees. A historian notes that there is a similarity between the immature palates of babies and those of early humans.
Angus's initial interest in olive oil was sparked years earlier by a visit to her Syrian relatives who served fruit and oil from their own olive groves. The greatest disappointment of the trip is that the civil war prevents her from concluding it in Aleppo where it began. Yet she feels triumphant when the bags of samples are examined for their genetic structure at the Institute of Plant Genetics. They are found to provide evidence that it was the Phoenicians who spread the olive tree throughout Europe. 978-1553655145
Since reading Olive Odyssey, Joan Givner says she has become very discriminating in her selection of olive oil. Her latest young adult novel is The Hills Are Shadows (Thistledown Press).
Submitted on June 5, 2014 in By David.
