First stop the Cantina Del Locorotondo cooperative where the hot August meant the small farmers were already bringing in their grapes. The manager showing us round reckoned that the quality of grapes was the best he had seen in 23 years working there. An early frost kept the number of bunches down, the lack of rain kept the diseases away and the sunshine pushed the ripeness way up. So a brilliant vintage is in the offing.
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Second stop Il Frantolio, another cooperative this time of olive growers (often the same small farmers). We learned that you should only ever use extra virgin olive oil. Anything else is oil chemically extracted from the kernels and only of use in things like tinned fish. Do not buy anything other than Extra Virgin!
The afternoon and evening were back to Truddhi to cook and eat amongst other dishes: roast peppers with capers and olives, stuffed aubergines and ricotta tart.
Mary at work!
A fuller set of Day 3 photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8179454@N02/sets/72157602241902733/
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