I have been very fortunate to know the Ralda family for more than 25 years. They welcomed me like family when I moved to Geneva in 1992. Since then some locations and contexts have changed but the Ralda family remain kind, considerate and united. It is my privilege to bring you their exciting new project, Ralda and Friends.
Enjoy!
The Ralda family has its roots in Godall, a typical Mediterranean village, where 80% of people in Catalonia with the Ralda surname are from. In keeping with a tradition that has Greek and Phoenician roots and which was introduced by the Romans in their country, they are passionate about our artisanal vocation and, of course, their product: the unique flavour produced by their olive trees. That’s why they invite you to share their passion by adopting an olive tree.
Ralda and Friends was set up with the aim of promoting not just the olive oil culture, but also the values associated with artisanal production principles: quality, traceability, respect for tradition, sustainability and support for small-scale producers. They also want to preserve the valuable heritage of rural areas like Godall, where their olive trees are located, a small village in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia (Spain). So alongside olive oil, they also sell other typical products from the Terres de L’Ebre region, at affordable prices. They want to build a close relationship with customers and friends, and to offer them the chance to adopt one of their olive trees.
Tell us a little bit about your background?
Our parents emigrated to Switzerland in the early 60’s where we grew up.
Every summer they travelled back to our home village, in south Catalonia, where our grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins had been taking care of olives trees.
Our parents had some land for a very long time…some of this land already belonged to our grand-grandfather or grandmother.
This is an area where you find the highest concentration of Spanish millenary Olive trees. The culture of the olives is widely spread around the little valleys and the surrounding villages of our region.
How did you get to Ralda and Friends?
Our father passed away 2 years ago and so we, as a family, decided to continue to take care of his olive trees, which were his pride.
We did not want do things the same way as the others and so we started to think about how to bring about a project that could interest and involve the local people alongside people living in a city, like us.
We found out that most of us are ignorant as to how olive oil is produced. All the local efforts to bring a quality product never reach the product-conscious consumer, who wants to know how the goods are produced and where goods are made!
A friend of ours told us of a sponsor program in Switzerland where a cow could be annually sponsored and thus we decided to apply this idea to our olive trees.
Tell us a bit about the products?
We have selected three different types of olive oil, the Extra Virgin, the DOP Extra Virgin and the Morruda DOP Extra Virgin. Each of them has some special qualities and taste slightly different. The Extra Virgin (green label) is a strong olive oil, with a strong black olive taste. It contains different types of olive varieties (Morruda, Farga, Sevillenca, Arbequina, Picual, Regues,) with low acidity; we would recommend this for daily use.
The DOP Extra Virgin (black label) is made only for from the local varieties, Farga, Morruda and Sevillenca.
To get the DOP quality, only these olive varieties can be used. It has a stronger delicate taste and contains only the very best of the authentic centennial local trees.
It is only after passing an independent blind tasting that this oil can carry the DOP label; it is the essence of our area and our pride. We recommend it with all types of meals, which will be magnified with a drop of olive oil: grilled meat or fish, all types of salads of course, or a simple bread and salt appetizer.
The Morruda DOP Extra Virgin (earth-brown label) is a selection of one variety of our local olive trees. The idea was to make our friends discover the unique taste of this olive variety, growing only in our local area. This olive oil is slightly more bitter than our DOP, definitely worth using for grilled fish and salads.
This Morruda olive oil is also DOP thanks to having brilliantly passed the independent blind tasting. Only a limited 120 Liters where produced in 2015!
We definitely recommend you to try all of them to discover how subtly different our olive oil can be.
Can you give us inside recipes from Yaya?
Woaww! We will try to, but the best way to discover them is to see the videos of Aitana, and her 13 year old granddaughter, on www.raldafriends.com.
You can see Yaya explaining to her grand daughter how to make a good ‘all i oli ‘, a ‘pa amb tomaca’ or a ‘coc amb oli’. One of our family favourites!! The ‘all i oli’ is a handmade mayonnaise with garlic and Ralda and Friends olive oil; this is excellent with our local steamed Mediterranean vegetables or our grilled local meat.
We used to cook them grilled using the wood from olive trees and would kindly suggest cooking it with the local lamb and the local sausages: an absolute delicacy.
We definitely recommend using our olive oil the simplest way in order to enjoy its full flavour: bread, some salt from the Ebro Delta (close less than 20 km), and that is it!
Could you describe a difficult challenge in your life and how you got over it?
Our family has been fortunate until now, because they have always been able to overcome the difficulties of life. In our private life, definitely the death of our father was challenging as we have always been a very close family, but at the same time we accepted this as part of life.
What is the best piece of advice you ever got?
It seems a little bit too simple to say it this way, but definitely: stay positive and persevere. Work hard and do always your best.
The whole family has always been honest, generous and remained faithful to our friends, our values and our thoughts.
What’s next for us?
To become godfather of one of our beautiful trees of course.
What’s next for you?
To get the 425 godfathers they are seeking for the trees of Ralda and Friends.
This would allow us to make our friends discover all the fantastic products they have in our region. At the same time it will be a shared pleasure of friendship and taste.
What could be better than a generous, shared moment of pleasure?
Friendship for Ralda’s family cannot be dissociated with a good meal prepared with the love of Yaya and shared with our friends. Our oil would be a perfect companion for these precious and unforgettable moments.
Reference: Ralda and Friends, www.raldafriends.com.
Ralda and Friends would like to give you the possibility of ADOPTING one of their olive trees, so that you can enjoy the ownership of a little slice of the Mediterranean and the valuable oils that they produce using traditional methods.
Carpe diem, La famillia Ralda
Bio
Sunita is an Executive Coach, Trainer and Consultant. She is of Indian origin and was born in London before moving to Geneva in 1992. She has a Psychology background (specialising in Occupational Psychology) and a Post Graduate in the Development and Training of Adults. She also completed a Masters in Ressources Humaines, Coaching et Gestion des Carrières at the University of Geneva.
During her 25 years experience Sunita's drive has always been to help people to do their best and hence led her to create Walk The Talk.
In her free time Sunita is a Mentor for the Branson Center of Entrepreneurship and a proud member of the School in The Cloud Team.
