Amelia Oil Blog

Our latest shipment of olive oil has arrived and we are going to be at the Dundarave Farmers’ Market in West Vancouver this Saturday from 10am-4pm. This is our last shipment this year so please stock up before we sell out. We are also now accepting orders for 2008 extra virgin olive oil. This year I will be filling the bottles myself in Italy and our shipment should arrive in Canada for January 2008.

Please come by and try our oil. See you at the market.

I have really enjoyed getting reader comments the past few weeks. I was starting to think I was writing just for my own entertainment.

In particular, I have found Henry Mackay’s comments stimulating and well-informed. Mackay is an olive oil producer in Jaen, Spain who writes a very interesting blog called the Olive Oil Gazette. Topics on this blog range from current prices and futures of olive oil to the various awards handed out by international committees.

When olive oil is too cheap I usually suspect that there are one of two things going on. First, I imagine the consumer is getting a raw deal. Usually cheap oil means that quality is compromised and what you think you are buying is not really what is in the bottle. Second, perhaps the producers are being forced to sell at a rate that is lower than their production cost. This sometimes happens when big olive oil companies get involved and monopolise international markets. I personally see this as the death of small-scale olive oil production in the Mediterranean.

If you are buying very inexpensive olive oil, you should expect to get what you pay for, which is usually not much. I am aware that different types of cooking require different types of oil; however, there is really no way I would ever consume ‘lampante’ or ‘olive oil’ grade. In fact, many consider these grades of olive oil unfit for human consumption. When the Romans said “caveat emptor” I think they were talking about buying olive oil. What can you do to ensure you are buying quality oil? First of all, read the label carefully and look for signs of fraud. Check that your oil is extra virgin (if that is what you are after), that it has a specific and identifiable origin and there should be a ‘best by’ date. Although these indications are a start they do not always ensure a high-quality product. I would even suggest checking on the Internet to find out more about the producer and distributor.

That said, I do not think that good quality extra virgin olive oil should be available exclusively to the privileged. There is lots of over-priced olive oil out there on specialty food store shelves. I will have more to say on that topic in the future…

It is the consumer’s right to know how the product they are purchasing is produced; this goes for olive oil as well. When you buy a bottle of olive oil at the supermarket there is little indication on the bottle or the shelf of how the oil was produced or about who did all the work to turn olives into oil. Making olive oil is a year-long agricultural process that requires the attention of farmers, extra labour for harvesting and pruning as well as the people working in the mill.

Although there are few issues around fair trade in Italy it is something that needs to be considered nonetheless. Are farms getting their fair share of the profits? This is particularly important for small-scale farmers who have a hard time competing in the global market. When my mother and I started to import olive oil from Italy we wanted to make sure we were giving back to local communities and encouraging the continuation of agricultural practices and traditions.

Buying direct from the producer and selling direct to the client is one way in which we keep the cost of our oil reasonable. However, quality comes from careful labour, passion and expertise, which have their price. Generally these are not values espoused by industrial production.

As you may know, I am not a big fan of certifications and although Amelia Oil may not be certified fair trade, we are proud to be a part of sustainable, local agriculture in Italy.

As I was researching the Mediterranean and Palestine, I came across this site. Zaytoun is fair-trade Palestinian olive oil. It is an attempt to help Palestinian farmers reach the marketplace and continue their cultivation of olives: “Resisting the occupation by insisting on life.”