It’s the end of October and I’m in the South of France near the small village of Bize Minervois, on the banks of the Canal du Midi, 40 kilometres from the walled city of Carcassonne. This is the home of the olive oil Cooperative L’Oulibo. The harvest is in full swing and growers from Aude, Herault, and Pyrenees Orientale are bringing in their fruit.
My quest is the holy grail of olives, a variety only cultivated in Languedoc and Roussillon. The locals know them as “Green Diamonds”, “Pearls of Languedoc” or “Les Rolls Royces” but they’re properly known as Olives de Lucques after the Italian Province of Lucca.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Olive Oil Times.
