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| Olive Oil |
| Our Olive Oil |
| Our olive oil is made from the fruit of the four-acre olive grove we planted in 2001. Having done extensive field tasting of artisanal olive oils in Tuscany and Umbria the year before, we settled on a combination of four Tuscan olive varietals (Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino and Maurino) that produce the superb golden-green oil the Tuscans call pizzicante- a smooth and luscious oil with a strong peppery aftertaste many consider a condiment rather than just oil. While we did pick up the trees primarily for the taste of the oil they produce, we were pleasantly surprised to find out afterwards that the pungent pepperiness characterizing it is caused by the abundant polyphenolic and antioxidant compounds it contains, which account for the powerful anti-carcinogenic properties of Tuscan-style oil, according to the latest scientific research. (see Our Oil and Your Health). 2004 - Our very first oil was pressed from a tiny harvest of 250 lbs., resulting in five gallons of oil whose flavor and taste we thought exceeded all our expectations. 2005 - We hand-picked our first commercial crop of 2.5 tons of olives on November 14 and pressed 90 gals of oil. Our belief that the oil was of outstanding quality was confirmed when it was awarded a gold medal and “Best of Class” designation in the Tuscan oil category at the 2006 Los Angeles County Fair International Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Competition, the largest international event of its kind. It won another gold medal in the only other competition we entered in 2006 – The San Diego Bay Food and Wine Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Competition. 2006 – This year’s 2-ton crop was a bit smaller than 2005 due to an unusual combination of weather factors that left many California producers with little or no crop at all. Hand-picked and pressed on Nov. 13, the olives had a somewhat higher oil content resulting in a yield of 100 gals. The oil passed all laboratory criteria for extra-virgin olive oil of the California Olive Oil Council , America’s only voluntary certification agency, with flying colors and we have every reason to believe that it is as good as last year’s. The limited quantity we still have available is on sale in our beautiful, brand-new, silk-screened 375 ml. and 250 ml. bottles on this website and selected retail outlets in California and elsewhere. |
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