Our own products
An "Agriturismo" is not just a tourist accommodation. The name says it itself: Agro = Agriculture, Turismo is pretty clear.
The olives for our top quality "Extra Virgin" olive oil, the bees for our natural honey, fresh bread with the best flour, a vegetable garden with "antique" seeds, jams with "antique" fruit, Limoncello with lemons from Sorrento... And not only...
A little more explanation...
"Extra Virgin" Olive oil
There are approximately 400 productive olive trees on 2.5 hectares of olive grove, divided between La Vallata and the orchard in Civitella d'Arna. In a "normal" season they produce between 450 and 650 "kilos" of oil, which is approximately equal to 500 to 700 liters. We pick in a traditional way, largely by hand like "then" and with "tree-friendly shakers" and never pick up "fallen olives". The olives are then "cold" pressed within 24 hours.
The result is a unique quality oil with a very low acidity and a very distinctive taste.
Onze olijfolie is uiteraard hier ter plaatste te koop, doch, wie niet tot bij ons geraakt kan ze ook bestellen en thuis laten leveren!
Voor info en/of prijzen mail naar info@lavallata-umbria.it
Photo: Loredana and a "Workaway" picking olives (October 2023)
Honey
Beekeeping started about 3 years ago as one of Loredana's hobbies. I gave her a pair of beehives as a gift for her 50th birthday and from one thing... came honey!
In the meantime there are 5 hives and we produce about 25kg of honey, sold in 500G jars..
To help the bees produce their own winter reserves of honey, and the one for us..., we sowed half a hectare of "medical grass", a mixture of seeds that grow for different types of flowers for 8 to 9 months a year. That is why it is called "Miele Mille Fiori", which means "A thousand flowers honey".
Our Honey is of course for sale here at La Vallata!
The vegetable garden
All year round we try to grow as much of our own fruit and vegetables as possible and that is mainly Loredana's merit. During the season it is mainly about vegetables we need for our guest's dinner and of course tomatoes take the cake (not a real cake ay!). Different types of salads, zucchini, aubergines, spicy peppers, pumpkins, etc. also alternate in our synergistic vegetable garden..
Interesting fact: All our fruits and vegetables come from “Antique Seeds.”. In other words: no GMO, nor hybrid seeds! We then save the seeds for the next season and/or exchange them with other farmers. This is not possible with hybrid or GMO seeds because they are mostly unusable.
On top of that, Loredana is also a specialist in "wild herbs". She regularly leaves with her knife and basket, walks through the fields and returns with a lot of "green that we don't have to do anything for". She can prepare it fantastically!!
Photo: “Antique Black” tomatoes in the vegetable garden, La Vallata 2023
Jams
Depending on the availability of the fruit, we make jams of different types. All fruit comes from our own production or "0 kilometers", that is. away from friends or colleagues. It is always about "natural" fruit, no GMO, no hybrid and we use as little sugar as possible to preserve the full flavor of the fruit.
A highlight is the lemon jam: Every year we travel for a few days to Sorrento where we collect about 80 to 100 kilos of lemons for making Limoncello (see below). We make jam and lemon juice with the pulp of the lemons (which is not used for the limoncello). Sorrento's tomatoes are world-renowned for their quality and are 100% unsprayed, which is an absolute must for making Limoncello.!
Photo: Unsprayed Sorrento lemons, La Vallata 2022
The real Limoncello di Sorrento!
Practically every year we set aside four days in April to go to Sorrento. We then drive along the Amalfi coast to enjoy the indescribable beauty and stop along the way to load about 80 to 100 kilos of unsprayed lemons into the Panda.
Back home it takes about 5/6 days of peeling... The Limoncello is of course made with the peel based on a centuries-old recipe that we received from the locals and promised never to fully release. We then use the pulp to make jam and lemon juice to get through the winter.
It has long since become one of the most requested drinks at the table or to take home.
Photo: Limoncello with no GMO and unsprayed lemons, La Vallata 2023
Types of Bread, natural "pistolets", jam cake, ...
A decent breakfast requires decent bread. During the first season in 2003 we bought bread from the local bakery. However, he did not want to agree on a good price for the following season, so we thought "we will do it ourselves". Little by little we learned to bake bread. We were showed some tricks by guests who were bakers, testing different types of flour, rising times, yeast, etc. to eventually obtain a bread that we liked ourselves..
For many years we could also find multi-grain flour, but since the famous hassle in 2020, this has become practically impossible. We now buy several types of natural (again no G.M.O. nor hybrid) grains and mix them with normal flour depending on the day. The latter is also 100% "natural" from "antique grains" that never come into contact with metal silos.
Photo: Fresh, hand-sliced bread, La Vallata 2023
During the months of July and August no breakfast is provided, but we do bake fresh "home baked" bread every morning and, depending on the day, breakfast cakes, waffles, pancakes, cake and "crostata" (jam cake) to order. In the village, barely 1 km away, you will also find an excellently equipped mini-supermarket with butcher's shop and fresh bread every morning (if you don't like ours), and 2 bars.
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