Amelia Oil Blog

Judy Witts from the Divina Cucina cooking school in Tuscany has written an entertaining and informative post on extra virgin olive oil in Italy for The American.

I am just back from Amelia and I still have the taste of olio nuovo in my mouth: green, spicy with bitter almonds and fresh cut grass. The harvest progresses and there are lots of healthy olives this year. Francesco, Anna and Vincenzo are hard at work in the frantoio in Amelia. It was great to join in the action and spend some time at my favourite place in the world–the olive mill.

More photos and videos from my trip coming soon.

During the Salone del Gusto in Turin last week I attended the Slow Food Master in Olive Oil course. One interesting point that was raised was the importance (or lack of) low volatile acidity in extra virgin olive oil. For an olive oil to be considered extra virgin one of the main requirements is that it must have less than 0.8% (0.8 grams per 100 grams) of free acidity. But can the consumer really taste the acidity in the oil?

According to our instructor, the average consumer does not perceive much difference in the acidity of olive oil. We were told that the reason for the introduction of this legislation was to encourage better harvesting and processing practices. For example, olives should not be beaten out of trees, fruit should not be harvested from the ground, milling equipment should be kept clean and olives should be processed shortly after picking in order assure low acidity and better overall quality.

It is interesting to note the emphasis placed on low acidity by producers and distributors, while this is rarely part of the information presented on the bottle. Amelia Oil consistently has less than 0.3% acidity but what makes it exceptional oil is our guarantee of freshness, the farming and harvesting practices used, as well as the hygiene of the mill.

Tomorrow I am off down to Amelia to see how the harvest is going. I will also be tasting the olio nuovo and posting my notes here.

Things are really busy here in Bra this week since everyone at the University of Gastronomic Sciences and Slow Food is getting ready for Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre–two of the biggest Slow Food events that take place in Turin every two years.

Besides participating in a number of taste laboratories and academic activities, I have decided to take the Master of Food course in Olive Oil. I am excited to continue my olive oil education and taste some new oils during my time at Salone del Gusto. I will be taking notes that I will share with you here.

Ci vediamo a Torino!

I talked to Francesco down in Amelia this weekend and he told me that he is getting the mill ready for the start of the olive harvest. They will be ready to go at the frantoio next week. The olives look good this year: there were no olive flies in the area and the harvest looks like it will be fairly abundant.

Now, I just have to figure out how I am going to get down to Amelia to get a taste of the olio nuovo and get involved in some olive picking (one of my favourite activities). I will keep you posted as the harvest gets underway.