The Oliva Bella di Cerignola and its processing

In Cerignola a famous typicality is cultivated and exported all over the world. It is a type of olive, whose cultivar has the name Bella di Cerignola. The PDO, on the other hand, is called Bella della Daunia, since it could not have the same name as the cultivar. The denomination comes from its good looks. This olive is indeed particularly large. The single drupe can even weigh up to 30 grams, even if the norm is 13 grams. It is a table olive, which, on the other hand, does not lend itself to the production of oil. It is worked in two different ways. To keep the olive green, it is first de-bittered and then kept in brine for about a month. At this point the olive is packaged in glass or in cans and then sold. The other method, called Californian, consists in making black olives through an oxidation process that takes place only with the help of air. When the olives are black, the color is fixed with a ferrous salt. This method is completely natural, so the color does not stay on the fingers when eating an olive.