Ta' Zeppi - An oasis of the best local food in Fawwara

If you are a food buff, then a vist to Joseph Borg’s (aka Ta’ Zeppi) organic farm in Fawwara, l/o Siggiewi is an absolute must. The olive groves are located on the southern coast of Malta, in a rural area known as Fawwara, on the outskirts of the village of Siggiewi.

The area is characterised by a cliff (Gebel Ciantar) overlooking terraced fields almost down to the coast. These cliffs shelter our groves from the damage that may be caused by the cold northerly winds. Fawwara is so called because of its source of natural spring water, which is used in our groves.

The olive varieties planted in the grove vary according to their use.
The first trees planted more than 20 years ago (early 1980’s) were of the types suitable for preservation and use as table olives.

These varieties are mainly:
Olea Europea • Bella di Spagna • Grosso di Spagna • Uovo di Piccione

The fruit from these trees is handpicked and sold at selected outlets for preservation and use as table olives.
Subsequently (about mid-1990’s), more olive tree varietes were planted, this time focusing mostly on those suitable for oil production, namely:
Carolea Cipressina • Frantoio • Giaraffa • Leccino • Maurino • Moraiolo • Pendolino • Picholine

These olives are also harvested by hand, to ensure no damage is caused to the fruit, which will lead to an inferior quality of oil.
A viable quantity of olives for producing oil was first harvested in 2002. Initially these olives were processed at the only olive mill then available on the island.

The olives were processed within 1 to 2 days from picking, yielding a high quality, extra-virgin olive oil. Our olive trees that year produced xxx kg of fruit. This amount increased over the next two years, when the decision was taken to install an olive processing plant directly on location at our groves. This was Mr. Borg’s dream come true!
The new machinery was finally installed in September 2005, just in time for the harvesting, which began at the end of the month.
The equipment consists of a stand-alone washer/deleafer, and the main automatic unit, for continuous extraction of top quality extra virgin olive oil. All equipment is state-of-the-art and made entirely of high grade stainless steel.

Olive Oil Extraction
Harvesting
Olives must be harvested at the correct time in order to obtain the greatest quantity of oil without an increase in the acidity level. Harvesting is the most labour intensive and time consuming part of the process. The picked olives are dropped in nets for easier collection into crates. As previously noted, all our olives are hand picked to ensure the best quality oil, since any bruising of the fruit will lead to undue fermentation, an increase in acidity and a negative effect on the final aroma.

Cleaning
The olives are then loaded into the deleafer/washer, which removes the foliage and washes the olives from any debris in constantly changing water. The clean olives are then automatically transferred to the processing machine.

Processing
The first stage in this process is the crushing of the olives into a paste. This machine uses rotating stainless steel blades to achieve this, instead of the more conventional hammer/wheel mills. This method provides for continuous operation with a high throughput.
The resulting paste (pomace) is then mixed for about 30 minutes (malaxation), whereby the small oil droplets in the paste are combined into bigger ones, which are more easily removed in the next step, which is the separation of the oil (and water) from the pomace.

The pomace is automatically and continuously fed into the centrifugal decanter, where the olive oil is separated from the water and pomace in a single step. The extra virgin olive oil is then transferred into stainless steel containers for storage and settling.

Preserving Table Olives.
The best way to enjoy olives throughout the year is by preserving them. There are variuos ways this could be done. Here is one method.
Clean olives thoroughly from leaves and stems and rinse in cold water.
Place in a suitable container and fill with water until olives are completely covered.
Change the water daily, for 3 days.
After 3 days, prepare brine by mixing 1 part salt with 10 parts water.
Drain and rinse olives and place in brine for 1 month.
After 1 month, drain olives from brine, rinse and replace in container with water.
Change water daily, for 3 more days.
Drain olives and store in jars, filling and topping up with vegetable oil.
Before placing in jars, the olives can be destoned if preferred. Also, once in the jars, some seasoning , such as garlic and herbs, can be added to the olives about 15 days before consumption. Seasoned olives are best consumed within 4 months. Otherwise, olives preserved this way will keep for more than a year.
Table olives are available from Ta’ Zeppi from September to October.