The Dolce Vita Diaries. Cathy Rogers

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СКАЧАТЬ the stuff is chemically extracted, in other words not simply crushed. The top dogs at the International Olive Oil Council (yes, there really is one), divide olive oil up like this:

      Extra virgin olive oil

      An acidity of less than 0.8 percent, and an extraordinary range of colours, flavours and textures. To qualify, the oil must be cold pressed and only mechanically. Note to selves: we want to be making this stuff.

      Virgin olive oil

      An acidity level of less than 2 percent with a ‘perfect’ aroma, flavour and colour. Cold pressed.

      Olive oil

      A mix of refined oil. Heat and sometimes chemicals are used to get the remaining oil out of the pulp left over from the first pressing and this is combined with some virgin olive oil. The good stuff gives the taste and the less good stuff gives the bulk. It officially has an acidity of less than 1 percent. We’d use this kind for frying, but nothing else.

      Olive pomace oil

      Refined oil from the olive residue. Good for oiling the door hinges.

      But enough of the facts and figures—it was time to get down to serious tasting.

      We didn’t agree on which oil was the best. There isn’t a right answer. But everyone agreed that olive oil production seemed an estimable and wholesome business to be in. And as we sat under the Californian night sky, illuminated by the twinkly lights of the luscious houses of the Hollywood hills, our path to olive oil producers seemed a simple and dignified one. A quick poll of where we should go to pursue this honest labour was pretty decisive and summed up by Rex:

      ‘Dude, it’s got to be Italy.’

      Here are our tasting notes from that evening:

      The Italian oil

      It tastes sweet, of apples or sweetpea. Full flavour and aroma of grass, but a bit thin. Made from Frantoio and Leccino olives. Jax’s favourite.

      The Moroccan oil

      Vanilla, avocado, honey, soil, artichoke heart. What an exotic cacophony of flavours. Creamy at front with a kick at the back. Made from Picholine olives. Aloysia’s favourite.

      The Spanish oil

      Deep, rich olive flavour of grass and fresh mown hay. Peppery, too. From a blend of olive types. Jason’s favourite.

      The Californian oil

      Round mellow and delicate flavour maybe more suited to an American palate. Very pale colour. Picholine olives. No one’s favourite.

Olive oil tasting

       Ingredients for olive oil tasting

      Bread—white

      Representing

Africa	California
Mustapha’s Moroccan	B.R. Cohn Sonora
Extra Virgin Olive Oil	Gold

Italy	Spain
Badia a Coltibuono	NúĊez de Prado Extra
Extra Virgin Olive Oil	Virgin Olive Oil from
from Chianti	Andalusia

      Pour each oil into a white saucer, so you can get a good look at the colour and viscosity. Cut the bread into small cubes. Dip in oil and eat. Simple.

      Word on the street is that the bread can modify the flavour and mask the subtleties of the oil, so for purists dispense with the bread and instead pour some oil on a teaspoon, suck it into the month with a slurp and wait for it to flow down the back of the throat.

Infusing olive oil

       Ingredients for cold infusions

      Rosemary—a big sprig

      Dried chilli—one large one or several small

      Black peppercorns—a small handful

      Garlic—a whole bulb

      We’ve worked out two ways to infuse the oil. The first is what we call warm infusion, where we gently heat the flavourings in a saucepan of oil for maybe an hour. Then there is cold infusion, where we leave the flavouring in the olive oil for a couple of weeks—the flavour slowly ebbs out in a more natural way. Things like lemon rind or basil, which contain water, go mouldy if you cold infuse them. But on the other hand, when we heat up the oil the result is a bit bland because the volatile aromatic flavour compounds are destroyed.

      Our success stories so far have been cold-infused dried chillies, rosemary and roasted garlic (we nuke the dastardly bacteria with a good roasting).

      Get creative and mix up whatever ingredients take your fancy. You will need a variety of glass bottles, corks and funnels. You are best off sterilizing the bottles beforehand—10 minutes in boiled water will do the job.

      Simply put your flavourings into a bottle and then fill with olive oil so that they are covered and there are no air bubbles.

      To roast the garlic, preheat the oven to 190° C /gas mark 5, wrap the whole, unpeeled bulb tightly in kitchen foil and roast for about 40 minutes or until the cloves are soft. Once the bulb is cooled down a bit, pull off individual cloves and shove as many of them down the neck of the bottle as you can. Then fill and cover with oil.

      Olives stone-ground with lemons

      Just when we’d really got the hang of infusing the lemon rind we discovered a lemon olive oil from Olivier’s & Co. which is vastly superior and made in a completely different way. In contrast to an infusion, here the lemons and the olives are crushed together in the olive press. The olives and lemons are ‘joined at the pip’, Cathy likes to say. We’ve taken to drizzling this oil on fish and chicken or as a lazy salad dressing (just add a pinch of salt). But best of all we use it to make lemon mayonnaise (gives a citrusy lift to potato salad, or try dipping grilled asparagus spears in it) and lemony ravioli.

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