A very old orchard
Olive growing is a tradition in Morocco. It is extremely present in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, where one can see century old trees irrigated by a network of canals fed by mountain water.
Natural cultivation and manual harvesting
At Dar Rana, the 148 locally grown and naturally cultivated olive trees were planted in the early 1950s, according to the testimony of the elders. One of them seems to have been there for centuries.
The olive trees are grown without treatment, fed with sheep manure.
Each year, the harvest takes place from September for the confectionery, and until November for the oil.
The olives are picked by hand by the women of the village who often come with their families to do this work. The crated olives go directly to the oil mill the same day they are picked, or the next at the latest.
Pressing for extra virgin oil
The olives are pressed in a modern oil mill, built in Aït Faska by US AID for a local farmer’s cooperative. Its modern facilities make it possible to produce an extra virgin oil that is impossible to obtain in traditional oil mills, where the treatment carried out and the hygiene regulations naturally increase the acidity. This aggressive character of the oil does not bother the villagers, who prefer a strong, even lampante oil to the softer, fruitier oils favoured by consumers elsewhere.
Finally, the oil mill in Aït Faska allows each producer to recover his oil separately and make a local olive oil. In Dar Rana, the early oil of late October and early November is preferred primarily, for its very fruity character, and secondly to avoid the oil mill becoming overloaded from the end of November, despite its lower yield.
The oil is stored in a cellar under the house, and some is bottled for sale.
