This story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
There’s an oil crisis — not at the pump, but on the shelf — with the beautiful emerald green elixir extracted from the fruit of olive trees. The bottles of olive oil that line our supermarket shelves have become so much more expensive, while the quality of their contents has become ever more suspect. It’s become quite costly to extend an olive branch.
Drought has impacted supply from Spain, and loose quality control has enabled untraceable blends from Italy. Bottles can be labeled as ‘extra virgin’, when in fact, National Consumer League studies show that more than half of all olive oil sold in North American supermarkets is not extra-virgin at all, but an inferior product that has been refined.
Fortunately, Stratford’s Olive Your Favourites specialty shop provides high quality oils from single varietal cultivars, meaning there is one type of olive per container. Each oil is from single-estates who own their own land and olive trees, with their own on-site processing plants. In contrast to commercial oils, which can be combinations of multiple harvests from multiple sources, and can even include different oils combined together, when one estate is in charge of their entire production chain, there is traceability and an assurance of quality.
You can’t get fresh olive oil from one region all twelve months of the year, because as with any fruit, there is seasonality, and so Aaron Bayer, owner of Olive Your Favourites, rotates his selection by season.
“Right now, northern oils from Spain, Italy and Greece are out of season,” he said. “Olive oil is like a vehicle: the second you drive it off the lot, it starts to depreciate; it oxidizes, so you don’t want to keep it for too long.”
Bayer focuses on who is producing it, and when and how they’re crushing it.
“We’re giving you the freshest product we can get our hands on. Right now, it’s the southern oils from Peru, Chile and Australia that are in season,” he said.
Bayer shares that, just like with maple syrups, “(Supermarket brands) want to give you the impression that what you’re buying is the same as what’s being tapped out of a tree at the quarter of the price. It’s not at all the same. My olive oil, in relation to what’s commercially produced, is different in that the majority of commercially produced olive oil is generally an over ripened fruit that’s then blended with virgin olive oils — because there’s only a certain amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil required to be in a bottle branded as ‘Extra Virgin Olive Oil’ from a commercial standpoint. It’s a food grade oil that opens a lot of possibilities for fraud.”
When a label says, ‘Bottled in Italy’, ‘Packaged in Italy’ or even ‘Product of Italy,’ that means nothing. The olives may not even be from Italy, but pre-pressed and shipped to Italy by boat only to be assembled there. They can be full of oxidation and defects, and need to be re-cleaned and rectified by the big blenders that end up in the supermarket. Even the ‘organic’ label does not escape this process.
So, how can we be sure it’s a virgin? Read the label on the back. The front label sells, but the back label tells.
In Canada, labeling is less strict than in Italy. It should tell everything, but if it doesn’t, or if there is no label at all, that says something too. If you can’t trace the olive oil back to the olive, that’s a problem.
The label on the back of the bottle should show evidence of affiliation to the regulations of the DOP system (Protected Designation of Origin) that ensures consistency of quality, olive variety, and essential qualities of the oil; as well state the producer, region, cultivar, harvesting date and expiry date. In big brand olive oils we may find an expiry date without a harvest date, and that too should be an obvious concern.
At Olive Your Favourites, Bayer takes care of all that research. Every container is labelled with everything we need to know to assure us of quality and freshness, and Bayer is on hand to answer questions. Each of his oils have achieved ultra-premium certification, the highest standard for olive oil testing in the world.
“My olive oil is third-party laboratory-tested. So, when my olive oil is harvested, before it makes its way into my store, it goes to a place in Melbourne, Australia, known as Modern Olives, for quality testing, gradings and ratings,” he said.
Bayer does not compromise the integrity of the oil or the bottle. Everything is ‘bottle-on-demand.’ Those who shop at Olive Your Favourites get to taste and compare products while they’re in the store, watch the bottling à la minute, and then take home exactly what they’ve tasted.
Among the oils that Bayer has sourced over the past year are medal winners like a Chilean winner from a competition in Japan, three Portuguese winners from an international competition in New York, and the world’s healthiest olive oil in an international competition from Kalamata, Greece.
High quality olive oil contains high levels of mono and polyunsaturated fats, and is rich in antioxidants, phytochemicals, polyphenols, tocopherols and flavonoids.
In addition to tasting the differences between purest extra virgin oils — their smoothness, fruitiness or pungency — it’s really fun to imagine food pairings, and adding a splash of some new flavour to a traditional dish. Different olive cultivars elicit different flavour profiles and structures when blending or pairing with food.
Flavoured oils like Wild Mushroom and Sage add an herbaceous and earthy essence to soups and pastas. Persian Lime can enliven any fish dish. Butter (vegan) adds a luxurious sensation to corn or mashed potatoes.
Olive Your Favourites also offers rich, intensely-flavoured balsamic vinegars made from grape must in Modena, Italy. Tantalizing flavours like Dark Chocolate, Espresso, or Black Mission Fig elevate barbecue glaze, salad dressing or a simple oil and vinegar dip to illustrious heights. Bayer suggests pairing the Wild Blueberry Vinegar and the Butter Olive Oil for a delectable drizzle on waffles.
The oils and the vinegars at Olive Your Favourites open up so many possibilities of what one can do in the kitchen.
“It’s all about good food and making things taste good,” Bayer said.
