Torelli’s olive oil is produced in the town of Corat which means “a beautiful tree.” The history of the town goes back to BC. It is located near Alberobello, a tourist town which is famous for “Trulli” the world heritage site, in the Puglia region in the southeast of Italy. Trulli is a collective term for a group of about 1500 historic buildings and its townscape characterized by conical stone roofs on pure white walls made of lime. Torelli’s farm, too, has a single trulli building (or trullo) within its site. The farm is situated away from the city, on the National Park hill with hardly any touch of modernity. The land is blessed with moderately dry and warm climate, and well-drained dry calcareous soil makes it the best place to raise olive trees. The Puglia region is respected for the highest olive production in Italy. Running a family olive farm for generations is nothing special in the Italian countryside, many people do it. Farmers keep only as many olives as their family can eat, and they sell the rest of the harvest to dealers. Processers buy it, squeeze it and bottle it, and other companies export and sell it. This is the conventional structure of the local olive industry, according to Torelli. Torelli’s family farm, too, had been following this manner until his grandfather’s generation. Today, however, they are different. The family focuses on cultivating only one variety of olive, known as “Coratina,” which is a native breed of the Puglia region, and the farm uses no pesticides.

“The first turning point was when my father got to know the facts about olive oil sold and consumed in Japan. He noticed that the Italian olive oil consumed in Japan didn’t have a good quality at all. He studied further to know that the Italian law permits processors and sellers to add other types of oil as long as the product contains more than 40% of ‘extra virgin olive oil.’ Because of that, high-quality olive oil was totally unavailable in the Japanese market. He was shocked to know that such an essential seasoning for Japanese everyday diet, as basic as soy sauce in a sense, was being so badly treated. He thought that people must pay more attention to their health and food culture, and he decided to make a better product himself.”

Thirteen years ago, Torelli’s father pioneered an abandoned field in the neighborhood on his own, purchased small young olive trees and planted them. It was nine years ago when he first got a satisfactory harvest. It was possible for him to increase the harvest more easily by using chemical fertilizer, but he chose not to. He put his top priority on the quality of olive oil, and he didn’t mind taking a long time and paying extra cost to achieve his aim. Today at Torelli’s farm, many relatives cooperate to harvest by hand picking, and then to extract the oil, bottle it, ship and sell it. They do almost everything in their family business. And they have obtained EU organic certification and JAS organic certification.

“The fruit of olives gains acidity as soon as it leaves the branch. To avoid this, we start working in the field at 4 in the morning and harvest by hand just before ripe olives fall to the ground. After washing, we crush them within one hour, using a stone roller which is 1.5 meters in diameter. Oleic acid contained in olive oil is delicate and can be easily deteriorated by heat. So we squeeze olives at low temperature, remove moisture by centrifugation, wait one month to 45 days, let it slowly settle, then we bottle it without filtration. We are sticking very closely to the traditional extraction method transmitted from ancient times.”

This method can preserve the olive oil in its best condition, in its original quality which has various vitamins and fibers, Torelli said. They also discovered that organic production without pesticides is the best fit for the traditional settling method. And their completed pure olive oil shines like gold with a yellowish green tint, and a taste like olive juice. It has no unpleasant astringent taste, but has a refreshing mild flavor with a faint bitterness.

“Even if ‘Made in Italy’ is written on the bottle, you can’t see who was involved in its production nor what sort of process it has passed through. Our aim is to secure full transparency in every production process. I believe that would eventually raise our credibility among customers.”

Today Torelli’s organic olive oil is sold in Japan through retailers such as MIYAKE STORE, which is highly conscious of healthy foods, handling products of permaculture and fair trade. They also sell wholesale to Napule, which runs organic-based Italian restaurants. To build mutual trust, their business partners are invited to their farm to see the real scene of production.

Torelli’s high purity extra virgin olive oil is recommended for eating without heating. One of the best ways is to use it at the end of cooking. Its flavor and nutrition can be kept as they are, which can be ingested to the body efficiently. The oil is compatible with various dishes besides Italian cuisine. It goes very well with soy sauce. A perfect fit for Japanese food. Yoshiharu Doi, a cooking specialist, introduced a unique way to eat slices of bread and olive oil together with miso soup, on his TV program named “Okazu (side dish) cooking.”

In addition to olive oil, Torelli’s farm has just started selling its original breed of almond, which has not been modified for centuries. Among the seven existing types of ancient almonds, Fragiulio, Tuono, Genco, and Supernova are native to the Puglia region where Torelli’s farm is located, and these varieties have not received any breed modification throughout history. Ancient almonds contain a large amount of oleic acid and vitamin E, and other nutritious values such as sugar components that are also higher than conventional varieties. I ate Torelli’s almonds during my interview. They were crunchy, and a delicate sweet flavor came out bite by bite, and its flavor reminded me of Chinese almond pudding. They are the same as the almonds ancient Romans loved to eat.

“Today, smaller-scale supply based on unique personal view of value can create bigger new values than conventional mass-product supply does,” Torelli said at the end of interview.

After the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, I myself began to think that safer food can be obtained through small-scale supply where I can see the background of products. The society, as a whole, too, seems to be shifting its priority to safety of food and living, rather than only fashion or convenience. Instead of consuming from the mass supply system, people are paying more attention to alternative systems and lifestyles based on individual relationships, such as small-scale business and community markets. Our awakening has just started, and this movement will further continue. We are required to utilize our insight further to discover more natural, healthier ingredients.