OLIVE OIL

There are many varieties of Olive Oil available in shops these days….and I am only speaking here about the Spanish Olive Oils.  When I first came to live here in Torrox Pueblo in 1992, I, quite naively, thought that all Olive Oil tasted the same. It wasn’t until a few years later that I went to a Food Festival in Malaga and discovered there are a vast range of different tastes and also many different ways of using it,.

The local Olive Oil here in Torrox has a lovely fruity smell, reminding me of all things, grapefruit! When used for frying it leaves a very delicate flavour in the food.  An easy way of either finding the various tastes or using for breakfast, is to simply pour a little of oil into a small bowl and just dip your fresh bread into it, or sprinkle the oil on a bread roll and eat it as it is, or rub a squashy tomato into it and add a little salt.

Another very different use for it is to rub it into your scalp if you either have dandruff or want to thicken your hair!

But I bet you can’t guess another old fashioned and very traditional Spanish use for Olive Oil!!!!!

SOAP!!!!

Apparently soap is made from used oil and has many uses in a Spanish household.

The tradition of re-cyling cooking oils to hand make soap has existed in Torrox for longer than anyone can remember.  Olives are always harvested during November and December and pressed to extract the rich oil, which is and always has been an essential ingredient in the daily diet of Spanish people.  This continues today and forms the basis of many a breakfast, snacks and main meals - one very simple use for it is to have a dish of olive oil (and there are many different varieties) together with a plate of Spanish cheese sliced  and a bowl of chunked up bread. Simply place a slice of cheese on your bread and then dip into the oil. Delicious!

THE PROCESS

Years ago, the used oil, left over from frying fish etc., was collected throughout the year in large communial ceramic containers (and some of these can be seen today being used for pot plants around the house). Once the weather began to get cooler, small parties of women would gather together to prepare the recycling of last years oil.  The ‘jaboneres’ as these women were known, would meet with their big tin basins, buckets and stirring sticks to make their way down to where they would gather wood and begin building the fires, over which the rich olive oil, mineral water and caustic soda would be warmed, mixed and stirred until it saponified.

WHAT NEXT!

The next day, it would be cut into chunks and shared out between the women, who would then store it in large sacks, hung in cellars or outhouses for use throughout the coming year.

The pure olive oil soap has always had an excellent reputation as a good moisturiser and is believed to cure cuts and wounds.  A Spanish friend told me it is also used for washing clothes and when asked, she said that her family never bought commercial soaps.

As I have witnessed, soap is still being hand made in Torrox Pueblo today, usually these days with women either pairing off (or by themselves) to re-cycle their oil, sometimes helping each other with the lifting of the heavy basins and taking turns with the continual stirring which gives the soap its excellent smooth texture and quality.

So, the next time I am aware of it being hand made, I will get myself down there and make some myself!