Egitânea olive oil

Ricardo Araújo was the first arrive in Ladoeiro, Idanha-a-Nova, in 2007. He founded the business in the production of organic strawberries and vegetables and gave it the name Real Idanha. In 2014, it was Tiago Lourenço's turn to move from Almada, a city located on the south side of the Tagus River, to integrate a project in one of the traditional 180-hectare rainfed olive grove in Idanha-a-Velha, which, after some time has come to an end.

The opportunity to continue the project led Tiago Lourenço to challenge Ricardo Araújo to, together, continue the same assignment whose name preserves the alias attributed by the Visigoths to Idanha-a-Velha, Egitânia. Thus, the biological extra-virgin olive oil, Egitânia, is made from a blend of the Galega varieties, native to Beira Baixa, Bical and Cordovil, both from Castelo Branco. The raw material is harvested manually on the 180ha of the traditional rainfed olive grove of Beira Baixa integrated into a 1,500-hectare property in Idanha-a-Velha. Consisting of centuries-old olive trees that are ten meters apart - there are one hundred trees per hectare -, this type of olive grove does not depend on irrigation or fertilizers. "Herbs are conserved, to prevent erosion caused by rainwater - which, in turn, contributes to groundwater - which allows them to form longer roots, to fetch more minerals, which end up feeding the trees", in addition to that, “they are grazed healthily”. In other words, "the sheep clean the land, and at the same time, the herbs are transformed into manure that naturally fertilizes the land". Here are the characteristics of the traditional dryland olive grove in Beira Baixa based on regenerative agriculture and pointed out by Tiago Lourenço. Despite the Galega, Bical and Cordovil varieties being indigenous, that is, having the Designation of Origin, Tiago Lourenço and Ricardo Araújo attach greater importance to the quality of the product: “we produce high-quality olive oil, both for the varieties used and for the manufacturing process”, Guarantees Tiago Lourenço. 

After harvesting the olives, an activity registered in mid-October - the time of year when the fruit reaches the stage of ripeness, that is, “its colour is between green and lilac” - it is sent to the municipal mill on a small scale installed in the museum centre of Idanha-a-Velha intended only for organic producers. “It is a living museum equipped with the latest technology”, in which “we strictly control the entire production process”. The olives are subjected to a temperature below 28°C, in the sense of “preserving antioxidants and polyphenols” whose degree of acidity is 0.2%. On the taste, Tiago Lourenço advances: “We started with the monovarietal, to understand the flavour that each olive variety has, and it took us some time to get to the point we wanted”. Today, the product results from a mixture of varieties that, together, provide the balance between the fruity of Galega, the spicy and the bitter of Bical and Cordovil. The biological extra-virgin olive oil Egitânia is available in cans, “in larger quantities and because it is a more recyclable material, in addition to protecting the product from light”, as well as in a half-litre bottle whose labels contain information related to the day and year of production. The purchase can be made at Quinta Fonte do Bogalho, in Ladoeiro, and bio stores around the country. Once at home, whatever the oil is, it should be kept away from sources of light and heat, and ideally consumed until one year after the date of its production.