All Live For Olive!

     When you think of Italy, what things would first come to mind? The more common answers would most likely be along the lines of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, their amazing food, and even wine. But there is another dark horse that many people may not even realize is an essential product in Italian gourmet foods: olive oil. Believe it or not, olive oil is BIG in Italy. Some may even consider ranking it high up there with wine and balsamic vinegar. This leads us up to this month's Gourmet Gab topic which focuses on our Gradassi brand of olive oil from Italy.

Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil

     In this post, we'll cover various topics which include terms you may have heard but did not quite understand what they mean, the Gradassi and C.U.FR.OL brand, and more in depth information of our Gradassi products. Head on past the break to read on. (Note: Images with product in it are clickable links to our Gourmet Import Shop online store where you can buy them directly)

 

     Gradassi is a brand that is part of C.U.FR.OL (Frantoi Oleari Umbri & Co) which literally translates to Umbrian Olive Mills & Co. C.U.FR.OL is based in the central Italian region of Umbria, also known as "The Green Heart of Italy", near the city of Spoleto. The company was born from the unification of some of the oldest olive mill farms in Umbria including Frantoio Gradassi.

Located between Spoletto and Campello sul Clitunno

     Here's a small video clip that gives a pretty nice visual presentation of C.U.FR.OL. The wording shown in the video is all in Italian, but it's not like reading a whole blog in another language. No worries there. You'll see some words or wording that we will cover down below.

     C.U.FR.OL is built on the foundation of their vision:

Olive Harvesting from Gradassi

•  To protect the oil growing area of Umbria, the only region in all of Italy to have its entire production area classified as D.O.P (more on this later)
• To encourage producers to continuously improve the already high quality standards
• To defend consumers from misinformation by providing education of the positive and negative attributes of this venerable ingredient for oil
• To promote and advertise Umbrian extra virgin olive oil
• To preserve the ancient growing traditions and to main the high quality standard of the D.O.P and the organic farming of extra virgin olive oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

     Starting with the very basics of olive oil, let's take a look at EVOO.........wait, what? EVOO? This is probably one of the most used abbreviations in the gourmet food world, but a good majority of people probably don't know what that is when this is thrown around...

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

*face palm*..........yes, that's what it really stands for. That was my initial reaction to when I first found out its meaning too. Hey, at least you'll never forget this again, right?

     So continuing from there, what does the "extra virgin" mean? It is getting the product as close to the original olive as they can. To be considered extra virgin, the olives must be cold pressed so it does not lose any of the olive's characteristics. If heat is added in any way, the characteristics get lost when the heat is applied. When more heat is applied, you would be getting more oil and less olive personality.......so to speak. A lot of olive oils that claim they are extra virgin olive oil here in the United States are most likely not. What is probably done is they have a very small portion of the product as real extra virgin but fill up the rest of the bottle with regular cheap olive oil. Of course this will dilute the true essence of extra virgin, and the consumer loses out on what true extra virgin olive oil is meant to be.

D.O.P?

     Just like how Italy has a well known system of classifying their wines with the D.O.C designation, olive oil has one with the marker of D.O.P (Protected Designation of Origin....it's translated which is why it's backwards in letter order). D.O.P is a system in which the producer of the product must apply for and pass certification standards that control where the oil originates from in order to earn the title. This includes the quality and characteristic of the product which are exclusive to that area or region it is made from.

Single Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Lo Sgocciolato

     This is actually just how it sounds. If you see Single Estate on the bottle, it means that the olives picked were all from one estate (one olive field, in other words). Why does this matter? There are olive makers out there who claim that their products are true Italian olive oil but in reality they gather olives from places outside of Italy and have it bottled in Italy. Truly not an Italian olive oil. This actually can tie into the above D.O.P stamp which authenticates it even more, showing that the products you are looking at are legitimate Italian olive oils.



     So to summarize in a sentence, to get the true taste of real Italian olive oil, look for the Single Estate and the D.O.P labeling.

     Great! Now that we have a little background and history of where our extra virgin olive oils come from, let's get to the nitty gritty details of each Gradassi product we currently have. Let's first start off by highlighting the young buck of the family which we recently just got in, the Pinzomonio.




Pinzimonio: New, Upbeat, & Trendy

Pinzimonio w/ Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

     This special extra virgin olive oil was developed with the upbeat, trendy and modern hectic life style in mind. What makes this even more unique is the fact that it is a solid combination of both extra virgin olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.....huh, why does that sound familiar? It could be that you may have heard it from here *winkwink*. The Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is carefully selected by the Gradassi Olive Mill from one of the most ancient producers of vinegar in the northern city of Modena. It is obtained with the blending of wine vinegar and grape must, and it produces a dark reddish and brown color as well as a balanced, pleasant sweet and sour taste.

     How would one use such an extraordinary product? The simple instruction would be: shake the bottle and dress your salad or use it as a vegetable dip. The combination of both traditional and modern is mixed within this bottle, and it is very useful to have the best of both worlds in one bottle.

Centenaria: Old School, Traditional, & Classic

Carlo Gradassi,  President of Gradassi

169 Ounce (5 Liter)

16.9 Ounce

     This single estate extra virgin olive oil is carefully selected and produced by Carlo Gradassi (that very important person you see up above) and follows the centuries old family tradition of how it's made. It holds the title of the most venerable product of the Gradassi Estate, and it was from the very beginning positioned to be the highest quality of restaurants and in the gastronomy market.

*Gastronomy - the study of food and culture with an emphasis on gourmet food

     Interestingly, before the D.O.P Umbria seal was made, this extra virgin olive oil was classified as "Typical Umbrian". The olives are hand picked and are then rapidly extracted with the cold drip method. The Centenaria is rich in natural vitamins and is a natural ingredient in Mediterranean diet. It is particularly popular to dress summer salads, grilled vegetables, and bruschetta.

     To get even more detailed, the ground that the olives grow on are on stony limestone soil in a sunny position, on hilly Mediterranean climate with cold winters and hot, dry summers. Some characteristics seen are an emerald green color with hints of gold, pleasantly bitter, intense fruity aroma, with a sparkling taste of freshly pressed, not fully ripe olives.

Lo Sgocciolato: The Taste, Color, & Smell of Umbria

Lo Sgocciolato Naturale

     The Lo Sgocciolato Naturale is a very precious Single Estate Extra Virgin olive oil (I hope you remembered the meaning of all that) produced in very limited batches. These olives are 100% Moraiolo olives that are handpicked from October 25th to November 15th and are extracted with the cold drip method.

What's unique with this is that they use a machine called "Sinolea" which manages to obtain oil without putting any production stress on the olives. During this process, there is no pressure, centrifugal force, or water used. The Sinolea contains a barrel in which the olive paste is poured. Here more than 5,000 blades perforate the paste which is when the extraction of the small drops of oil drip and is collected. This method is considered the best extraction process in order to obtain an extra virgin olive oil that has the closest resemblance to the original olive. 

     And for those who love the itty bitty details, the terrain where these are grown are located on hills surrounding the medieval hilltop towns of Spoleto and Trevi. The type of ground they're on are stony limestone soil in a sunny position, hilly Mediterranean climate with cold winters and hot dry summers.

Fiore d'Autunno: Unique, Exquisite, Simple

Fiore d'Autunno Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil

     The Fiore d'Auntunno is a single estate unfiltered extra virgin olive oil that comes in a decorative and stylish flask with a built in swing top to seal the bottle when not in use. The name is literally translated as Autumn Flower since it comes from the autumn harvest. It is cold extracted from not fully mature olives that are picked at the beginning of the harvest. Not filtering the olive oil leaves the residue of the olive pulp when the oil is bottled giving that fresh taste of olives with the oil itself. Experience a fresh, herbaceous bouquet that contains high levels of polyphenols with extreme low acidity levels. Polyphenols are a type of antioxidant that are derived from plant based sources, such as olives, which are said to have healthy benefits such as helping fight Alzheimer's & memory loss, and cancer. 

Infusi: Fusion, Diverse, Sublime

Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Starting from Left: Pepper, Lemon, White Truffle, Black Truffle, Basil, Garlic

     Rounding up the last of our Gradassi products are the ever popular Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oils. Yes, your eyes aren't deceiving you. Those are actual bits and pieces of its respective product. The Lemon Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil has lemon peels inside of the bottle so you get that zesty taste or the fiery bite of the Pepper Infused Olive Oil that contains actual peppers. The universal and classic elements of the food world, basil and garlic, contain their respective ingredients as well. You can never go wrong with the basics right? Lastly, we have the truffles which are usually considered to be high class ingredients. The truffles have a very pungent smell and even stronger taste, and in the hands of a great chef or cook, some amazing dishes can be brought into this world. I've personally tried it as a simple dip for bread, and I can say this: that taste will linger on your taste buds for quite a while.

Mmmm...Delicious!

     Sounds great! But what dish can you make with these fine ingredients, especially if you feel your skills are not Top Chef level? Fear not dear reader! We have begun a project to add suggested recipes to use with all of our products in each of their pages, and all you need to do is click on the Recipes tab in each product page. The first run of recipes we've put up are uses with the Gradassi olive oils, so check out those products! As we find more great recipes to go with each product, we will be updating the product's corresponding recipe section continuously.

     And for those who discover a great concoction they created using one of our products and want to share it, we will be more than happy to post it on our website and our social sites with your name on it. We are happy to support the pioneering chef or chef-in-making who wants to share their talent with the rest of the world.

Frantoio Gradassi Sign

     There you have it! Who would have thought so much information can come just from olive oil, right? This is just a small portion of what the gourmet food world consists of, my friend.....and this is why we're here with this blog to help pass on this great information that most people do not have access to or who want to know more about what it is that they buy. We hope this is helpful for you in your quest to level up your awareness of what gourmet food can offer.