In the midst of strong December winds and rain I found the sunshine of Tuscany. A great morning hosted in Hampton Place with Tuscan chef Alessandro Piccinini. Alessandro has a cookery school in the small medieval village of Montisi not far from Montalcino in southern Tuscany. Along with his work at the school he holds…
Miscellaneous
Curious and Curiouser
Can wine be blue or maybe even green? I was asked recently. “Of course not!” I announced firmly. But think again. When I researched the subject I found that there are quite a few references to “blue wine” in various European wine producing countries. The Linos winery in Cyprus, for example, going so far as…
Changes to my one-day olive oil tasting and appreciation classes
From now on I will only be offering my one-day tasting classes to ready-made groups of colleagues or friends. It is no longer efficient for me to gather together groups of people one by one. The numbers required for such classes will be a minimum of four to a maximum of seven. As a result…
Brexit Border Problems
It is not just the English/northern Irish border that is experiencing delivery problems due to Brexit as I am finding out. It is also currently quite a serious problem for small importers bringing in premium products from the EU. So, if like me, you are keen on food from small artisan producers rather than from…
Website of the month: https://www.thegiftofoil.co.uk/
The Gift of Oil website is the brainchild of Phil Bianchi who spent the early years of his working life working for blue chip food companies, ending up in Athens working for a large olive oil company. There he was inspired by the quality of the Greek olive oils and vinegars which he felt were…
One Day Olive Oil Courses
Thanks to popular request I am continuing my one day olive oil tasting and appreciation courses in London and Brighton in 2020. The next courses in London will be held on Tuesday 18th February and Friday 27th March. Brighton dates are open to negotiation anytime between now and late April. I keep the classes fairly…
Great Olive Oil Stories
There are so many great stories about the amazing people in the olive oil world that I have decided to highlight some of them from time to time. Mother’s Garden: The first in the series concentrates on Martin and Maggie who have developed and marketed the excellent Mother’s Garden brand of extra virgin olive oil…
Diary of Tasting Classes
Here are the probable dates for my schedule of extra virgin olive oil tasting classes in London early next year. I will be running another advanced course in February 2019, dates yet to be set. I have also had some interest in courses at the weekend, this might be possible a little later in the year…
Olive Oil for Christmas
Olive oil for Christmas has two meanings – in the food and among the presents. Of course olive oil will be in full use in my kitchen this Christmas, but here I want to talk about extra virgin olive oil as a Christmas present. Lots of my friends and family enjoy first class olive oil…
A Busy Week of Tutored Tastings
I shall be conducting three special extra virgin olive oil tutored tastings at classes in London in the week beginning Saturday 14th October. They are all open to everyone and will be held at The Welcome Italia Exhibition, The Divertimenti Cookery School and the Premises of the Oil Merchant. There are still places available at…