Old Trees

There is an olive oil producer in Sambuca who has a tree that is reportedly well over 500 years old. He has used this to market his oil as a specialty in the US. He presold by subscription half liter bottles of oil that contained some oil from the olives of this tree, for an incredible price, something over 100 dollars per liter. The going price here is 4-5 Euros per liter for good fresh oil. The amazing thing is that trees reportedly produce their best oil when they are between 20 and 150 years old. After that, their production begins to fall a bit, and their quality remains the same, as that is determined by the soil, the weather, and the production method used.

However, I did think you might want to see some pictures of some olive trees that are that old, and that are still producing olives, however the oil from these trees is in the 4-5 Euro range, far saner than the boutique oil that some feel destined to pay for. (I wonder if the world economic crisis will effect the cost of his oil, or at least the subscription rate for his oil.)