OLIVE, I’M BACK!

I have left you in peace for the last week or so – be grateful because now I’m back and once again the blogs start. Whilst I was in London I took a close look at the new Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband. Of him I will write in the near future but for now just let me say he is less slick than Blair or Cameron but all the more impressive for that!


Since my return I have been catching up on my reading including the Ley del Olivar which aims to maintain Andalucía as a world leader in the olive sector.

Now I have always associated olive oil with France, Spain, Italy, Greece – I guess all the Med countries. However I was rather surprised to learn that currently the olive accounts for 24 per cent of the value of the agricultural production in Andalucía.

It is the principal activity in over 300 municipalities in the region and generates over 22 million work days a year and there are 250,000 families dependent on the income derived from olive growing.

Some 1.5 million hectares of land in Andalucía are dedicated to growing olive trees. That is 60 per cent of the total in Spain and 30 per cent of that in European.

Andalucía produces 40 per cent of all the olive oil in the world and 20 per cent of the eating olives. Of those totals 21 per cent of the oil is exported and seven per cent of the olives.

The Andalucía minister for agriculture and fisheries, Clara Aguilera, says the new law will recognise the “unique place in Europe” of the region’s olive sector. It will set out the strategic role in plays in creating wealth and employment, its social cohesion role and its high value to the environment.

I will leave you to contemplate those impressive facts as you munch an olive with a glass of wine and prepare to cook a meal with olive oil. Or maybe like me you also like your morning toast with olive oil and of course tomato. Enough food for thought there for us all.

A CLEAN PAIR OF HANDS

When I Googled the title of this blog this morning up came numerous references to Barack Obama but given the world-wide hype since his elections I thought I’d give the poor man a rest, at least for today.

True my clean pair or rather pairs of hands are in the USA but are not election related but rather the subject of a study by the University of Colorado. There biologist Noah Fierer has determined that on the typical pair of mitts there are 150 different species of bacteria.

Staggeringly on the 102 hands (51 people) tested there were 4,700 different species of bacteria. Reassuring only five people had all of them – I think they should be named and shamed!

Now here is the interesting bit. It appears that women’s hands have more bacteria than men’s –and knowing what men do with their hands that may well shock you too!

The theory is that as men’s hands are more acidic its allows less bacteria to breed. Also women use more creams and treatments on their hands and this encourages the bacteria – I guess the same applies to David Beckham.

There was little difference in the level of bacteria on the right or the left hand and of the 51 people taking part only 13 per cent of the various bacteria were on their respective hands. Some bacteria were less present after washing but others increased so washing with an anti-bacteria soap is recommended. The good news is that the vast majority of the bacteria on our hands are not harmful and indeed many protect us against pathogens.

Not in the least related but I will tell you anyway is the news that olive oil helps prevent the appearance of chronic illness and improves the quality of a person’s life. This news will officially be given by Doctor Francisco Pérez Jiménez to the II International Conference on Olive Oil and Health to be held in Jaén later this month.

Now call me an old cynic, believe me I have been called worse, but giving good news on olive oil to the chief growing area is like telling a conference of a major petroleum producer that oil slicks don’t harm the environment.

None the less you’ll be pleased to know that olive oil when used as part of the Mediterranean Diet cuts down on inflammation and holds back serious illnesses. It is more beneficial than other oils, controls cholesterol, blood pressure and oxidation, whatever that may be.

However to get the benefits it is not just necessary to use olive oil but virgin or virgin extra.

You don’t need me to tell you that when handling a virgin of any description it is important to wash your hands with the right soap first!