Olive Oil

[RWebb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/dining/californias-olive-oils-challenge-europes.html?_r=1&gwh=99865FFE95B9508FBA9ADC61D695B72D

[masraum]

interesting stuff, I'm reading the linked article on OO counterfeiting and the OO study from UC Davis now.

[AirKuhl]

OO groves and presses are sprouting up all over the place out here, it's a good use of unused land near vineyards and the weather is ideal for olive trees. I predict a similar curve as with wine. Some period of catching up, but eventually meeting and surpassing much of the traditional offerings.

[pwd72s]

Try olive oil when making popcorn......yummy.

[M.D. Holloway]

Funny thing, I have a friend from San Lupo Italy - they have great Olive Oil. He brought some back for me. I swear it was the best stuff i ever had. I asked if I could get it here and he laughed. "Migueli, you canna get da real Olive Oil here in states! Tis a mix. A mix of somethinga else and Olive Oil. Da real stuff is only for Italianos! " Then we drank a bottle of ginny red and told lies about girls....

[Hugh R]

Wassabi in the US is horseradish not the real stuff.

[R K T]

The BEST Olive Oil comes from Croatia!

www.dalmatiankitchen.com

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Wassabi in the US is horseradish not the real stuff.

Really? I have eaten my share of raw fish in Japan and can't tell a difference.

[Hugh R]

Java

Read the ingredients of US Wassabi. It's horseradish. Real Wassabi is very expensive.

[cgarr]

Popeye the Sailor Man's main squeeze?

[vash]

real wasabi is not blow your nostrils open hot. very sweet and mildly gentle with the heat.

there is a great sushi joint here. you have to save up money to eat there. on some of his creations he takes a real wasabi root and rubs it on a square of shark skin to grate a wad up. amazing.

i'm still saving money for my next visit.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Try olive oil when making popcorn......yummy.

Good olive oil only needs good bread. Surprisingly hard to get them together . . .

Ian

[gtc]

Originally Posted by vash

real wasabi is not blow your nostrils open hot. very sweet and mildly gentle with the heat.

there is a great sushi joint here. you have to save up money to eat there. on some of his creations he takes a real wasabi root and rubs it on a square of shark skin to grate a wad up. amazing.

i'm still saving money for my next visit.

I've purchased and grated wasabi (I used my microplane) and it was pretty potent stuff. It definitely hits you differently than the green paste, though. It was pricey, but you shouldn't need much if your sushi is decent to begin with.

[scottmandue]

Next time your fry eggs try it with OO...

Dunno but the OO I get from the Italian grocery store is pretty good... (I prefer Sicilian)

And yes I have had the real wassabi and yes it tastes very different... but I also heard that wasabi is part of the horseradish family?

[afterburn 549]

Thanx R.W. For once. LOL

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Next time your fry eggs try it with OO...Dunno but the OO I get from the Italian grocery store is pretty good... (I prefer Sicilian)

And yes I have had the real wassabi and yes it tastes very different... but I also heard that wasabi is part of the horseradish family?

yup...always do.

[Moses]

Originally Posted by vash

real wasabi is not blow your nostrils open hot. Very sweet and mildly gentle with the heat.

There is a great sushi joint here. You have to save up money to eat there. On some of his creations he takes a real wasabi root and rubs it on a square of shark skin to grate a wad up. Amazing.

I'm still saving money for my next visit.

where???

[NY65912]

Olive oil.....something near and dear to me. My grandfather established an olive oil pressing business in Bari, Italy in the early twenties after returning to Italy after living and serving the U.S. in WWI.

My father who came to this country in the fifties to sell the family product met my mother and gave up the business always told me that I had olive oil running through my veins since the family lived, breathed and slept olive oil. I remember being in Italy and traveling by horse and buggy in the early sixties to go to one of the many groves my grandfather had. He had 500 plus acres of olive groves.

My grandparents would ship oil over to the states for my family's use. The Pulgia region of Italy truly has some of the best oil in the world. Mild, a tad bitter and with a little almond taste. The climate of the area is all important to the taste. I've tasted the California oils and they are very pleasant, I have some that I especially like on salads.

Below is a pic of the groves surrounding Bari.


The current family farm.


The "you are leaving" sign of the ancestral home of my family, Giovinazzo.


I should have gone back to Italy and taken over the factory and farms. I regret not being interested in the business when I was in my early twenties.

Che bella vita! Che meraviglia l'olio di oliva!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Wassabi in the US is horseradish not the real stuff.

Yep, Wasabi root (related to horseradish) is expensive.

Originally Posted by JavaBrewer

Really? I have eaten my share of raw fish in Japan and can't tell a difference.

Due to cost, most Japanese places use the fake stuff too, I believe.

Originally Posted by Hugh R

Java

Read the ingredients of US Wassabi. It's horseradish. Real Wassabi is very expensive.

Originally Posted by vash

real wasabi is not blow your nostrils open hot. very sweet and mildly gentle with the heat.

there is a great sushi joint here. you have to save up money to eat there. on some of his creations he takes a real wasabi root and rubs it on a square of shark skin to grate a wad up. amazing.

i'm still saving money for my next visit.

The place that my wife and I go here in Houston (Kubos) has Wasabi available on request. I always request it. The real stuff has a great flavor and is a little hot. The fake stuff is just about the heat, no flavor. Kubo's also uses the shark skin grater.

[Don Plumley]

It's been said that if all the EV OO that's labeled as coming from Italy were true, the entire country, every acre, would need to be covered by olive trees. So the tankers full of oil passing by Italy to claim origin really flies in the face of DOP (like AOC in France).

It's also been said that while you plant grapevines for your children, you plant olive trees for your grandchildren. It takes a generation for the tree to be making great fruit. For all of the olive trees planted here in wine country, it's an interesting subject. My brother in law's vineyard has olive trees and has bottled. But climatically speaking, the best olives come from a dry climate, and not the temperate/wet Sonoma area IMHO.

I've taken the OO sensory class at UC Davis. You drink it. That was tough at first. A little bit of burn is appropriate - really made my throat raw. So far, I prefer oils from Mediterranean climates, the local oils are a bit too grassy for my tastes.