Yes, it is about time! Amelia Oil will soon be offering the best and freshest EVOO from Umbria in the United States.

I moved to San Francisco from Vancouver last year and I am finally getting organized to start selling and shipping Amelia Oil. Amelia Oil in America should be up and running by mid-May and we hope to receive our first shipment in June. Rebecca, my mother, will continue running Amelia Oil in Canada. All we can say is that Francesco, our farmer, is thrilled that we will be bringing his olive oil to more people throughout North America.

Keep your eyes on this blog and the Amelia Oil site for more details as we prepare to launch!

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Buon anno! We’d like to wish all our customers the very best for a happy and inspired new year. We appreciate your business very much and the support you have given us. Through olive oil, we have met so many interesting people who share our passion for food and Italy. Many of you we now count as friends. It’s been so much fun.

When I refer to, “we” I am speaking of myself, and my daughter Rachel. Together, we started this business in 2006 to bring fresh olive oil with character and flavor to Vancouver and beyond.

I have some news on that front: Rachel married Doug Cook on December 29 in Elk, California. Yes, Elk! They will live in San Francisco, a great foodie city. Doug, a wine enthusiast, is known for his Able Grape web site, a search engine for wine lovers. They hope to expand Amelia Oil into the Bay area. Stay tuned for more news from Amelia Oil’s San Francisco branch.

More good news: the new 2010 olive oil from Amelia is on the boat and scheduled to arrive at the end of January. We had hoped it might arrive sooner but snow en route to the docks slowed the process. It’s hard to imagine snow in Italy but this has been a very cold winter in Europe.

This year we have added a 3-litre tin format as well as a little 250 ml mini tin. As usual we bring in extra oil, so if you didn’t get around to placing an order there should still be oil available. We’ll update you by e-mail when it arrives.

We encourage our customers to think ahead to how much olive oil they need for the year and to pick it up when it arrives in January. The idea is to use the oil within the calendar year. That is the Italian way. However, most of us aren’t very Italian and we figure it out as we go along and buy our olive oil as we need it.

A number of our customers have run out of our oil and substituted various grocery store olive oils for the Amelia Oil. I am pleased to say they told us they noticed big difference and commented that it just didn’t do the trick. There is no substitute for top-quality fresh olive oil.

We look forward to sharing with you some of the best olive oil in Italy. We have to also thank Francesco Suatoni, our friend, farmer and miller, and his family for continuing to produce delicious EVOO.

Best wishes for 2010. Auguri!

We arrived in Amelia on November 17^th after taking a train from Rome to Terni and renting a car. It was an incredibly warm and picture perfect day as we drove through the autumn coloured countryside

When we arrived at the olive mill, frantoio, we were greeted by Francesco and his parents Anna and Vincenzo. They had already pressed the olives from their own trees and were now in the middle of pressing the olives from neighbouring farmers who seemed to be arriving non-stop. I could see our visit had not come at the most convenient time for them but you wouldn’t have known from the hospitality we were shown. Aside from showing us in detail the steps of pressing the olives, we were treated to a fabulous lunch in the frantoio, which happens to boast its own private kitchen. Anna prepared us lunch that was mostly cooked in a huge open fireplace beside our table. The meal consisted of pasta, sausages, grilled meat, bruschetta, salad and pastries. This was all washed down with their own wine and limoncello. Several dishes showcased the fresh olive oil, which was drizzled freely. Yum!

I can definitely say that this year’s oil is delicious. According to Francesco it was a hot summer and the oil is of excellent quality but the production volume was far less than last year. I found it to have loads of grassy fruity flavour. This is typical of good Umbrian extra virgin olive oil.

The Suatoni family speak very little English and my Italian is even more challenged; however, they had a charming new English speaking helper, Riccardo, who was able to bridge the gap for us. In the past Rachel has been along on these trips and I could get by with her excellent Italian translations.

We took loads of pictures and Ricardo was kind enough to take us to another farm where his family were still picking olives. We had a go at it and soon realized that it is back breaking work. It made us more respectful of the amount of labour that is involved in each harvest.

We had a wonderful day in Amelia and wished we had much longer to stay and soak in the smells and ambiance of this pristine Umbrian town. Our visit renewed our sense of connection to this wonderful oil which has become the number one staple in our kitchen. We are proud to be able to share it with our customers in Canada and the United States. Stay tuned because Rachel will be expanding the American side of Amelia Oil in the new year.

- Rebecca

Last Sunday, I spent a wonderful afternoon at Southlands Farms Market, where Jordan Maynard and family run a neighbourhood farm-gate business in the middle of Vancouver’s urban horse country. All the veggies, fruit and eggs produced on the farm are pesticide free. I couldn’t help thinking that access to unlimited quantities of horse manure must be a big factor in producing such bounty. This not your average market: it brings together the whole community through food. A neighbour was selling her fabulous homemade pies, cookies and jams. While a young man on a bicycle from down the block brought a bag of his tomatoes and green beans to sell and left with three red laying hens that Jordan had for sale.

I served Amelia Oil on my homemade focaccia. It seemed the perfect accompaniment to all the fabulous tomatoes and squash in season now. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and felt like I was miles away in the countryside, not minutes from downtown. This small operation is really devoted to sustainable urban agriculture and has a CSA program in place. I encourage you to check it out and explore the area.

Our oil will now be available at Southlands Farms Market at 53rd and Blenheim now open Wednesday 4-6pm and Sundays 12-3pm.

Please add your name to our list:

Do you need some great olive oil for summer grilling and all of those delicious salads? Amelia Oil is having a summer sale on 2008 Amelia Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We’re already sold out of 1-litre tins but 500ml bottles are 20% off ($15.20) and 5-litre tins are 25% off ($93.75). At these price, our 2008 stock won’t last long.

We still have a good supply of lovely, fresh 2009 Amelia Olive Oil.

Visit our site to place your order: www.ameliaoil.com

You can now follow Amelia Oil on Twitter for delicious olive oil updates, recipes and news about the freshest EVOO in town.

San Salvatore, Amelia, Chalk drawing by Jim Hake

We’re so happy the ‘Lemon Tart’ is enjoying her Amelia Oil. Have a look at the Lemon Tart blog to see what she has to say about us.

We always love to hear what yummy things you cook or bake with Amelia Oil. Send us your tasting notes and recipes to ameliaoil(at)telus.net. We would be happy to post a link to your blog.