Wine lovers know all about the major grape varieties that go into their favourite wines but olive oil enthusiasts are not usually so knowledgeable. Yet the different olive varieties, like grapes, give quite different taste and flavour characteristics to their end products and contribute to the diversity of the olive oil world. Accordingly, I am…
Spain
2021 Award winners with the producers’ suggested recipes
Details of the winners of the 2021 olive oil awards are beginning to trickle in and so I will be reporting on them as they arrive and pairing them with recipes recommended by their producers. The first of these uses one of the two oils from La Cultivada which have won top awards at the…
Cooking with Andalucian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Following my virtual tasting of Andalucian oils last week I immediately started to look for some really authentic recipes from the region to try out. Here are the results: Pipirrana My first recipe comes from Elena Garcia at Spanish Gastro Larder and features their Finca Alamillos del Prior extra virgin olive oil from Jaen. It is…
Celebrating Andalucian olive oil
Engaged in my first virtual olive oil tasting yesterday. We tasted five excellent extra virgin olive oils bfrom the region, taking in four different olive varieties plus a blend of three of them. I knew all five oils well from many visits and tastings over the years and they did not disappoint. They all tasted…
A Taste of Catalonia
Writing my post on the Vea estates in Catalonia last week brought back memories of some of great dishes the I have enjoyed when visiting that area. Here are just a few of them. Escalavida …and beyond …
Memories: The Vea family and The Oil Merchant
I first met Charles Carey – The Oil Merchant – when I was still earning my living mainly as a wine writer and was only just starting to take an interest in olive oil. He organised a tasting for the Circle of Wine Writers which I attended and we kept in touch. He became a…
Simple Summer Food from Jaen
Talking about my visit to Jaen in my recent “Memories” post reminded me of another visit to that part of the olive oil world a year later. One of the producers I visited then was Melgarejo who own a very modern mill near Jaen itself. Here the fifth generation of the family showed off the…
Memories: Soler Romero and the Gay Farmer
Great to see two long standing contacts now linked together in a thriving business partnership: I first came across Soler Romero organic extra virgin olive oil fourteen year ago. I was on a general visit to the Jaen region of Spain and Cortijo El Tobazo was part of the itinerary. I was struck by the…
Website of the Month: March
Artisan olive oil company: I am often asked “How much should I pay for a good extra virgin olive oil?” This is quite a difficult question to answer. The quick response is “as much as you can afford”, but there are oils which are very expensive which are arguably not worth the money that is…
Off the Shelf: March
Here is another post in my series looking at extra virgin olive oils taken at random from the marketplace. I am very lucky to have samples of evoo sent to me from time to time direct from the producers and of course these oils are likely to be the very best they produce. So I…