L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2016 www.italoamericano.org 19 L'Italo-Americano Usher ing in the New Year With Italian Olive Oil O live oil lovers are glad to put the old year behind them. Between drought and disease, the 2014 olive har- vest was catastrophic for Italy— the worst in twenty years, accord- ing to the International Olive Oil Council. Everywhere I traveled throughout the central and south- ern regions this past summer and fall, producers and consumers alike were praying for friendly weather and a better yield this year. The good news is that the 2015 harvest was better than the previous year's (though not as bountiful as the year before that—2013 saw the best olive harvest of all time). The not-so- good news is that prices for gen- uine, estate-bottled Italian olive oil are higher, good reason for the public to be better informed than ever about the oils they are buying. Most American con- sumers, home cooks and food professionals alike, typically have more savvy about buying a bottle of wine than a bottle of olive oil. Italian Olive Oil, A Crash Course Olive trees, transplanted to Italy by Etruscans migrating from the Levant, carpeted Italy's Mediterranean regions some six millennia before the Romans invaded. Like bread and wine, olio d'oliva, or simply, olio, is a primordial food, imbued with symbolic meaning and religious significance in the imaginations and mythologies of the Italians. Italy's deep south—Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily—were once the world's leading purveyors of olive oil, producing it in such volume as to light the street lamps and churches of Europe. The advent of electricity in the late 19 th century changed all that, devastating the Italian olive oil market and forcing producers to clear-cut their ancient trees and replace them with more promis- ing cash crops. In the last century, olivicoltori planted new olive trees and influ- enced regulations that put empha- sis on quality over quantity. If previous generations geared their olive oil production toward vol- ume of output for foreign mar- kets at the expense of taste, today's artisan olive oil produc- ers are making some of the best olive oils in the world and it is these you should be looking for as the new oils arrive. The Real Deal: Genuine Extra-Virgin There is only one kind of gen- uine olive oil that qualifies by Italian law as extra virgin: the juice of the olive fruit that is extracted by pressing, not by chemical extraction, and which JULIA DELLA CROCE does not exceed 1% acidity. Anything else—so-called oils seductively labeled "pure olive oil," and "lite olive oil" for the American market—are not gen- uine olive oil and have no place in the authentic Italian kitchen. When "Bitter" is Good Unlike wine, which requires aging, olive oil is at its best just after the fruit is pressed, when it is fresh and brimming with flavor and pleasant bitterness—amaro to the Italians. That bitterness, which may put off the uninitiat- ed, is the indicator of high polyphenol levels (antioxidants) associated with excellent olive oil, in particular, young, early harvest oil. That same bitterness brings out the flavors in other ingredients, much in the way salt functions to draw out and define the characteristic flavors of foods in cooking. So-called extra-vir- gins that taste bland may be blends of extra-virgin oil cut with refined oil, an illegal, if common, practice in the slippery business of olive oil, as detailed in the now famous New Yorker exposé in 2007 by investigative journal- ist Tom Mueller. Best Uses for Extravergine True extra-virgin olive oil is LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES best used as a finishing oil over minestrone or bean soups, polen- ta, certain pastas, or over grilled meat or fish; as a condiment for cooked vegetables; as a compo- nent in uncooked dressings for fish and meat such as salsa verde; or simply drizzled over sturdy bread or vine-ripened sum- mer tomatoes and freshly made mozzarella. One of my greatest pleasures in summer is enjoying the simple bread salad of Puglia made from dampened whole- grain friselle, a kind of hard-tack cracker, and sweet, ripe tomatoes anointed with good wine vinegar and the full-bodied extravergine of Puglia. Which Oil Not To Buy? Many commercial brands olive oils have been adulterated or blended with other oils from abroad. Others are blends from various growers that lack the dis- tinctiveness of artisan-produced, estate-bottled olive oils. In addi- tion, according to experts, mass- produced and blended olive oil is already rancid, whether because the olives were left on the trees to ripen for too long (more prof- itable—late harvest olives pro- duce more volume than early har- vest olives), or because the oil has been on a shelf for too long (the typical shelf life of olive oil is about a year if it is bottled properly in dark glass or well sealed tins (olive oil sold in plas- tic bottles should be avoided alto- gether). Not only does oxidized olive oil taste bad, it is harmful to human health (rancid oil forms free radicals in the body, which are known to cause cellular dam- age associated with serious dis- eases). Seize the Moment The new vintage arrives in American markets in January, so now is the time to buy the most delicious oil you will taste for the rest of the year. Look for the pro- duction date of October or November 2015, on the label. The best guarantee of getting fresh, high quality, genuine extra- virgin olive oil is to stick with labels that include the coveted D.O.P. seal, a designation con- ferred by the European Union that essentially guarantees its quality, geographical origin, pro- ducer, the variety of olive used, date of production and other details that distinguishes it from other oils. As olive oil ages, its flavor and vitality fades. Light and heat will cause it to deterio- rate quickly. Buy it is in small quantities from reliable purveyors where merchandize moves quick- ly and store it in a cool (not refrigerated), dark place and use it often. Recommended Sources There are numerous American retailers of fine extra-virgin olive oil. Among those I would recom- mend that you can find online include Zingermann's in Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.zinger- mans.com), Gustiamo in New York City (www.gustiamo.com), of Di Palo Fine Foods in New York City (www.dipaloselects. com), and Market Hall Foods in Oakland, CA (www.markethall- foods.com). These purveyors are knowledgeable about olive oil and typically have personal rela- tionships with the artisans whose products they sell. Julia della Croce is a print & broadcast journalist and James Beard award-winning cookbook culinary consultant & recipe developer. You can visit her on her website, www.juliadella croce.com and blog, http:// juli- a d e l l a c r o c e . c o m / f o r k t a l e s 1 / Connect on Facebook: Juliadella Croce-chef & foodwriter Twitter:@ juliadellacroce Only the juice of the olive fruit that is extracted by pressing, not by chemical extraction, and which doesn't exceed 1% of acidity can be called extra virgin olive oil

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