Illustration by Lisa Brancatisano
DEBBIE TRAVIS’ ORGANIC, COLD PRESSED, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
‘The freshest oil you will ever taste’
Ciao Tutti,
As June comes to an end, they finally begin to appear – tiny, shiny, bright green olives the size of an eraser at the end of a pencil. By early September these superfruits, having soaked up the relentless Tuscan summer sun, have grown to the size of small grapes, plump and hard. Now, we wait for the late summer days of September to gift us with the occasional and much needed downpours, creating the ideal weather conditions for the upcoming October harvest.
Each year, many of you, our loyal customers, order the Organic, Cold-pressed, Extra Virgin Olive Oil that is produced from the olive trees on our land around Villa Reniella. There are numerous reasons for these regular annual orders, the main one being that our EVOO is truly authentic, organic and delicious. But, many of you come back each year because of the constant stories in the press about the health benefits of regularly consuming good quality extra virgin olive oil. And then, there are the more frightening stories – what exactly is in the olive oil bottles on the supermarket shelves?
One of my pet peeves is the omission of the harvest date on the label. If the harvest date is missing, best to leave the bottle on the shelf – yes, you will see a ‘sell by date’ or ‘best by’ or ‘expiry date’, but these dates just mean that the oil is safe for consumption, not the nutritional value. The oil can be two to five years old, which means that its health benefits and taste are drastically reduced. We recommend using EVOO within 18 months of harvest, and to store it in a cool, dark place until needed.
EVOO is the key ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, known for its anti-inflammatory properties. EVOO is said to improve cardiovascular health, lower cholesterol levels and its high polyphenol count even slows down the aging process, as we can witness every day in our local village here in Tuscany which is teaming with octogenarians, nonagenarians and centenarians. New research is even talking about the link between the consumption of olive oil and reducing the risk of dementia.
If you have visited us here at Villa Reniella, then you know how passionate I am about EVOO. My greatest joy is watching friends and guests try real extra virgin olive oil for the first time. Pure delight. We take a teaspoon of our extra virgin olive oil every morning with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of cayenne pepper. Later in the day, we slather it on salads, toast and grilled vegetables. We grill, fry and bake with it. I even remove my mascara with our oil. I rub it over dry arms and legs, leaving me silky and smooth!
But not all olive oil is created equal. The growing popularity of this superfood has, of course, prompted the food giants to see this product as a phenomenal money maker. According to Tom Mueller, the author of Extra Virginity, a really great eye-opening book about the olive oil business, there is more money being made from fraudulent olive oil than from trafficking cocaine, and selling corrupt olive oil is less dangerous than selling drugs. Please read the labels before buying– most olive oil in the grocery store is a mix of oils from many countries, which is not necessarily bad, but often coloring and flavoring is added to resemble the contents to authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A good bottle of EVOO should only contain olive oil – nothing else. I hope that you found this information useful for making informed EVOO buying decisions.
But back to the olives on our farm….they will keep on growing until sometime in October, Mother Nature decides the exact date and we pick all 4000 trees – by hand. The harvested olives are taken at the end of the day to a local olive press, which deals only with organic farmers (so there is no chemical residue contaminating our oil) and the next day the EVOO is filtered, which removes tiny olive particles that can turn the oil bitter, then it is bottled and packaged, ready for shipment directly to your door. For logistics reasons, we sell our EVOO only in boxes of twelve 500ml bottles, but a bottle of EVOO makes for a unique holiday gift, or you can share a box with a friend. Even better, don’t share, but savour each bottle throughout the year. All EVOO mellows over time, but stored in a cool, dark place, it can be safely consumed within 18 months.
To order our 2024 harvest EVOO, please click this link, which takes you to our EVOO online store. Do not wait too long as we do sell out pretty quickly. Oh, and if you would like to see a stunning video my youngest produced about our first harvest here at the villa – click this link.
For more news on everything happening at Villa Reniella, Where Is Debbie? and the escapades of Billie the Border Collie:
Wishing you much health and happiness,
A presto and hope to see you at one of our retreats.
Baci e abbracci
Debbie
