Olive oil: where to taste it at Christmas markets

Olive oil is obtained by pressing freshly harvested olives, and since picking runs from late October to December in Provence, the new oil, pressed at the start of the harvest, reaches the stalls of southern Christmas markets just as they open. The millers sell it there by the bottle and the can, next to olives and tapenade.

New olive oil: the year’s harvest on the December stalls

In Provence, olives picked between late October and December go straight to the mill. The new oil that comes out is cloudy, lively and deeply coloured, with a marked taste of artichoke and pepper. It is the oil of the current harvest, sold at the end of the year, and it is the one you will find at Christmas markets.

The calendar is the same in Italy, and in Umbria the new oil is celebrated in autumn during the pressing. The markets of Assisi and Montepulciano put it on show, and Perugia offers Umbrian oil.

Where to buy Provence olive oil at a Christmas market

Aix-en-Provence puts new olive oil on its stalls. Istres and Salon-de-Provence sell Vallée des Baux olive oil, a PDO blended from at least two of the appellation’s varieties, among them Salonenque, Aglandau and Grossane. Montélimar offers oil and olives from Nyons, Nîmes its Picholine olives and its oil, Grasse the oil of the Grasse area, Cagnes-sur-Mer that of the Nice area. Antibes, Aubagne, Draguignan, Fréjus, Hyères, Menton and Narbonne have it at their producers’ stalls too.

At the same markets, the oil goes into the fougasse sold in Manosque, and into the pompe à l’huile, a flat olive oil brioche that is one of the thirteen desserts. Our guide to Christmas in Provence details this Christmas table.

Olive oil in pictures