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Fratepietro - Bella Cerignola Green Olives - 11.64 oz.
Regular price $21.00 USDRegular price
About Fratepietro
- Based in
- Cerignola, Puglia, Italy
- Founded
- 1890
- Known for
- Bella di Cerignola olives
On 9 April 1890, Giovanni Fratepietro inherited a farm at Cerignola, in Puglia, from his grandfather. His sons Carlo, Benedetto and Domenico carried on with the olive groves. Five generations on, Andrea Fratepietro, who had studied in Siena and begun a career as a lawyer, came back to Puglia in 2004, and the farm passed to him in 2013.
Bella di Cerignola is a large, mild olive named for the town, and it can be cured while keeping its natural green color. The Fratepietros pick theirs by hand and cure them in water and salt following old family recipes. Table olives like these are served with salami, aged cheese and bread, or warmed in olive oil with a strip of orange peel.
Fratepietro questions
What is a Bella di Cerignola olive?
Bella di Cerignola is an olive variety from Puglia, in the heel of southern Italy, named for the town of Cerignola. It is large compared with most olives and mild in flavor, which has made it a popular table olive, grown for eating whole. Green ones like Fratepietro's are picked once they reach full size but before they ripen and darken.
How are Fratepietro olives made?
Olives straight from the tree are too bitter to eat, because they contain a bitter compound called oleuropein. Fratepietro picks its olives by hand and cures them in salt water following family recipes. Over a few months in the brine, the bitterness is drawn out while helpful bacteria ferment the olives and make them slightly acidic, which adds tang and lets them keep without refrigeration.
