Chap. 3.] OLIVE OIL. 279 



recent plan, the pulp is put in a stick strainer, with narrow 

 spikes and interstices. 14 The riper the beny, the more unctu- 

 ous the juice, and the less agreeable the taste. 15 To obtain a 

 result both abundant and of excellent flavour, the best time to 

 gather it is when the berry is just on the point of turning 

 black. In this state it is called " druppa" by us, by the 



Greeks, "drypetis." 



In addition to these distinctions, it is of importance to 

 observe whether the berry ripens in the press or while on the 

 branch ; whether the tree has been watered, or whether the 

 fruit has been nurtured solely by its own juices, and has 

 imbibed nothing else but the dews of heaven. 



CHAP. 3. (2.) OLIVE OIL : THE COUNTRIES IN WHICH IT IS 



PRODUCED, AND ITS VARIOUS QUALITIES. 



It is not with olive oil as it is with wine, for by age it ac- 

 quires a bad flavour, 16 and at the end of a year it is already 

 old. This, if rightly understood, is a wise provision on the 

 part of Nature : wine, which is only produced for the drunkard, 

 she has seen no necessity for us to use when new ; indeed, 

 by the fine flavour which it acquires with age, she rather 

 invites us to keep it ; but, on the other hand, she has not willed 

 that we should be thus sparing of oil, and so has rendered its 

 use common and universal by the very necessity there is of using 

 it while fresh. 



In the production of this blessing as well, 17 Italy holds the 

 highest rank among all countries, 18 and more particularly the 

 territory of Yenafrum, 19 that part of it in especial which 

 produces the Licinian oil ; the qualities of which have conferred 

 upon the Licinian olive the very highest renown. It is our 



l * " Exilibus regulis." A kind of wooden strainer, apparently invented 

 to supersede the wicker, or basket strainer. 



is It is more insipid the riper the fruit, and the less odorous. 



16 By absorbing the oxygen of the air. It may be preserved two or 

 three years even, in vessels hermetically closed. The oil of trance keeps 

 better than any other. 



" As well as the grape. . _ . . 



is In consequence of the faulty mode of manufacture, the oil ot Italy is 

 now inferior to that of France. The oil of Aix is particularly esteemed. 



is In Campania. See B. xvii. c. 3. Horace and Martial speak m 

 praise of the Venafran olive. Hardouin suggests that Licmius Crussus 

 may have introduced the Licinian olive. 



