In the magazine Gambero Rosso of August there is an article about olive oil at Andria (Puglia). Il you look at page 38 you can read (sorry for bad translation): "Andria makes so much olive oil as the whole Tuscany. Stil today this olive oil gives strenght to other olive oils less strenght, the olive oils from Garda, from Umbria, from Tuscany. It should be forbidden to say these issues, but everyone says at low voice and someone claims, too". Sorry again for the translation. Ilive in Italy and, nevertheless, this news schocked me, really I am very surprised. I always considered the Tuscany olive oil the best of Italy and, therefore, the best of the world, especially if made in Lucca. What is your opinion ? Thanks.
Posts: 37 | Location: ITALY | Registered: 12 May 2002
There is no truth in labeling laws in effect in Italy as far as olive oil goes.. The Puglia olive trees are huge!!!! and produce a lot of olives. In the old days they were allowed to ferment, increasing the acidity and then used for lamp oil!
The domands for oil for tuscany sees tons of trucks coming from who knows where ( Greece, Turkey, Marocco Puglia etc..) with olive oil.. bringing it in to be bottled in Tuscany!
Tuscan oil sells for more than oil from Puglia or other regions.
quote:Originally posted by vidanto: I always considered the Tuscany olive oil the best of Italy and, therefore, the best of the world, especially if made in Lucca. What is your opinion?
IMHO there is no "best" olive oil. There are many good olive oils produced in the whole Italy, north to south. Southern oils tend to have a stronger taste, this makes them more fit for very tasty foods, norhtern oils are milder, which cmakes them perfect for milder tasting preparations (or salads). One can say that he or she prefers Tuscan oils or Umbrian oils, but that can't be said is that Tuscan oils are better than oils from Puglia. This is true generally speaking. More in detail, a few things must be said.
1. Most of the oil produced in Italy (or at least bottled in Italy) is actually produced from olives imported from other areas of the mediterranean sea. This is particularly true for the low-cost oils one can find at the supermarket, in particular those that are not labelled "Extravergine". This does not mean that olive oils produced somewhere else in Europe or the middle-east are bad, I have tasted decent Spanish and Greek oils (and the Greek claim that their oils, although not as famous, are better than the Italian ones). Yet the olives that are imported from these areas are often low quality ones. Thsi is also true for oils that one can find at the supermarkets and that are labelled "Tuscan" or "Ligure". 2. In southern Italy the "uliveti" (olive orchards) are bigger and the oilves are often gathered straight from the ground, often overripe, marked and mixed with dirt. This makes the quality of the oil produced this way lower. Yet even in Puglia, Calabria or Sicily there are small producers that pick their oilves by hand thus producing very good tasting oils (more pungent that those produced in Tuscany, but as good). On the toher hand, I believe that in southern Tuscany there are a few producers that work their orchards just like their colleagues from Puglia, getting the same low-quality result.
Oil should be trated just like wine. One can't say that "French wine" is better than "Italian wine" or that "no wine produced in Spain can be good": usually one discerns between wines that are to be drank with fish, with meat and with cakes and so on. Barolo and Brunello are not the same, but they can be just as good: simply they should be drank with different foods. Sciacchetrà is different but neither superior nor inferior to Passito di Pantelleria. So why don't we have a DOCG for oils? Not only, why we just buy "olive oil" and not care a fig wether it is an oil that should be used to cook roasted meats or an oil that should be used to garnish salads? I am not implying that anyone of us should have long row of bottles of oils ready at hand, just as well as we all usually drink the cheaper wines that we can buy at the supermarket, and leave the most prestigous bottles for specific occasions. This is even more true since, unlike wine, oil's taste tends to vanish after a few months. But on the same special occasions for which we buy top-end wines we should also buy top-end olis to cook with (and, just as well as we chose one specific wine to go with one specific food, we should chose one specific oil to go with one specific food)! Tuscan oils, IMHO (just like oils from the Sabina area of Lazio) are more versatile than others, IMHO: not too strong as to overcome salads and not too mild as to dosappear on roasted meats, this is their main virtue, IMHO, but also their main drawback. Despite the fact that I love Tuscany, I tend not to buy Tuscan oils when I want to splurge on olive oils. I rather prefer spending an arm for a bottle of really good oil from Puglia and a leg for another boittle of oil from Garda lake: two very different oils that I will use differently in different recipes. A dish of melanzane al funghetto tastes dramatically better if cooked with a strong-tasting oil, while fruity oil from Garda lake can be delicious on a delicate salad.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
wrote an article on olive oil that i am toying with that discusses this history of olive oil in italy if anyone is interested......its still in the tweaking stages but has some interesting factoids for anyone that is interested.
Passerotto i'd love to read your olive oil report as well.
My relatives in Reggi Calabria are in the Olive Oil business and every time I return back home to the US I’m always given about 5Lts of the family's private reserve oil that I end up sharing with my close friends.
On my most recent trip this past June, a cousin of mine, who has an olive orchard explained to me that the olives that come from the older and taller trees are used more for industrial use while the olives that are harvested from the younger shorter trees are used for making olive oil. In fact there’s a gov't program in which farmers are paid to cut down the 100+ old trees and replant their orchards with younger olive trees.
As I see it, the concept is if the trees are younger and shorter they are easier to harvest. There are these machines (for those who can afford them) that grab on to the trunk and branches to shake the older and taller olive trees (with netting underneath to catch the olives) so these olives hit the ground and mix with dirt and hence the results are not that great to make the best quality olive oil.
Alas the younger shorter trees are hand picked and the quality is topnotch.
Another thing I learned is, that just like wine...you have great years for Olive oil and not so great years pending on the weather (how much it rains). too much rain can turn an olive to produce a high grade of acidity and thus harder to digest. The best olive oils have very low acidity.
My personal favorite Olive oils are the strong flavored, with hazy/cloudy dark green hues. Great for smothering the foccacia bread in!
last thing i learned is that nothing goes to waste with olives. the nut is finely ground down and used in making bricks of all things.
Even worse. In some areas of Tuscany there are electric plants that work on pressed olives leftovers from the nearby oil producers.
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
The pit of the olive is crushed int he pressing process. The stone wheels redfuce them to paste in the old fashioned frantoias. In newer machines the pits are reduced with a hammer like contraption. This is because there is 16 5 of the olives oil in the pit.
The leavings after the oil is pressed can be pressed into bricks. I have an Israeli friend who had some made into briquettes to use to flavor the food on the grill. They work great except theycause the fire to flare up. But the food is yummy if a little sooty. He gave that up and now feeds the pommace (the leftovers after they have been pressed hard to extract lubricating oils) to cows and pigs. They love it and its full of fat!
Alice... I am one of those who does have a long line of olive oil bottles open. Right now I have Lischetto from Toscana (actually right outside of Volterra), an oil from Garda, a Spanish arbequina oil, a good but not great oil for cooking, an Apulian oil with a rich almond character. Then I have 2 california oils which are crused with blood oranges or with limes.
An oil, open, only keeps for 3 or 4 months before it goes rancid.
quote:Originally posted by dean: Alice... I am one of those who does have a long line of olive oil bottles open.
I wish I could too. At home I must fight with my grandfather who has a horrible habit of only buying the cheapest extravirgins he can find at the supermarket. Not only, when I happen to have a little Garda oil (by the way, has anyone seen the sea-like storm that hit the Garda two days ago?), my grandmother uses it for cooking 8-((((
Alice Twain -- – Che peccato, signora: lei ha partorito e suo marito non c’era. – Oh, se è per quello non c’era nemmeno quando sono rimasta incinta! Leo Ortolani, Rat Man, “Il primogenito”
I topped a thread on the Italy board with an updated e-mail from my supplier in Umbria. I thought I'd do it here for the foodies who may not see the thread on the Italy board. He sent me the name and contact information of a producer he recommends in Sicily. Here is the e-mail: Good Morning Deborah, I can suggest you a very serious sicilian producer. Hi isn'ts so small like me but hi is real "great" quality maker. The name is Lorenzo Piccione and his property is called Pianogrillo. It is a property with a long history. I anticipated him some e-mail from US.You can see him website http://www.pianogrillo.it and contact directly Lorenzo. I really hope that you and your friends will be happy with this oil. Waiting for the next year with I hope a better harvest!! Have a great day mauro
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 5026 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
Dean mentioned that an oil only keeps for 3-4 months before it goes rancid. Pauline said she brings home a 5-liter tin of oil from Italy, as well as several bottles.
Question #1: How does someone use olive oil in such quantities before it deteriorates? A 5-liter tin???
Question #2: Once open, should olive oil be kept in or out of the refrigerator?
Thanks! Charity
Posts: 1486 | Location: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: 11 May 2003
I've never had oil go rancid. I do know that the stores recommend that the oil be used within one year. And it should be kept in a cool, dark place, but not refrigerated. You can freeze it, which is done with the oil when it is new in order to preserve the "bite" of the new oil. I'm sure others willhave more definite answers.
An olive oil, if kept properly (away from light and heat) should last at least 2 years although it is recommended to use by 1 year from pressing on the newer oils. When the olio novo (new oil) is released in November we normally buy about 20 litres if not more. We use it for almost all cooking (not Chinese, Thai or for desserts unless it is the olive oil cake)
quote:Originally posted by Cristina: An olive oil, if kept properly (away from light and heat) should last at least 2 years although it is recommended to use by 1 year from pressing on the newer oils.
This is very true for ils bought directly from the producers, but when buying from shops and supermarkets, you must always consider that the oil for sale (especially the oil produced by the big brands) has often been kept in the stores for several months before being put on sale.
Alice Twain -- Te recuerdo Amanda / la calle mojada / corriendo a la fabrica / donde trabajaba Manuel La sonrisa ancha / la lluvia en el pelo / no emportava nada / ibas a encontrarte con el Ese cinco menudos / la vita es eterna en cinco menudos Victor Jara
quote:Originally posted by Colleen: I've had olive oil (and other types) go rancid on me - so I've learned to buy smaller bottles!
The bottle can be big or small, the important thing is not to leave it open for too long and not to leave it in the light. My solution is tu buy 3-5 liters cans and pour the oil in a dark glass bottle as I need it. A one liter bottle of oil lasts 2 weeks or less at home (we are four). We keep the bottle under the sink, in the dark, and the can in the basement.
Alice Twain -- I don’t want to take what you can’t give / I would rather starve than eat your bread I would rather run but I can’t walk / Guess I’ll lie alone just like before Pearl Jam, Corduroy
My first visit to this area: Some good info here: Let me add my 2 cents as far as oil going south. If all things are equal the better oils are made with modern processes that limit the time the oil is exposed to air, light and heat. A 5 liter can is best decanted into smaller bottles which are kept with the smallest air spaces. Oxidation ruins wine and also oil. Keep your's cool, dark and the btls. full. Southern oil is , to me, heavier and not as fruity. Good BUT different. When I would visit my favorite aceto e olio merchant he would basically say it's the best(BUT he was Neapolitan, what else would one expect).
Another cent worth--If I remember correctly there was a big freeze in central Italy in the mid 80's that affected the olive trees. Seemed like there was a scandal involving wine producers that were getting into upscale, boutique type olive oil bottling(was it Badia e Coltibuono?)using tanker trucks of Puglia oil and passing it off as Tuscan. Nothing wrong with Puglia oil but not for $40 a liter. And of course the big Chianti wine scandal before that. Please advise me if these "facts' are off.
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