H&C

22
Mar
2010

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Olive oil

"A few weeks ago I was invited to Madrid to meet with a friend, Tom Havenamart. Tom and I have worked on a several food related projects together and recently he has been working with a company called La Organic.

La Organic are producers of organic olive oil and those of you who have read my blog on organic food will know this is not a subject I take lightly. I must admit that here I think I have found a product that is worthy of the organic logo and is true to the purity this badge wants to be know for.

Tom’s family owns a large distribution company, importing and exporting all over Europe, and he has recently taken over the distribution of La Organic in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. La Organic produce Spanish olive oils from the regions of Ronda and Cordoba in the south. Here, the company prides itself in the fact that they select and buy their olives from small artisan farmers that are organic by default. What does this mean? Well, it means that these farmers have been producing olives for many years in the old traditional ways with no chemicals or pesticides because historically they did not have them, so without trying they fall under the organic certification. Farming like this produces a fantastic product, which is good for the environment and encourages traditional farming methods that have been in situ for decades. This in turn helps sustain the history, culture and economy of these rural areas.

Once the olives have been carefully selected, harvesting is timed to within days so that the olives are at their best and ready to give up their gold liquid, prized by people all over the world. Ten types of olive are selected and each type is processed separately. They are mashed and then put into a centrifuge, which spins the olives and allows the oil to be decanted. This is what is known as cold extraction and most virgin olive oils are made this way.

Once the oil has been extracted, the different types are blended like fine wines to give the final product. Much of the process that goes into making La Organic sits in the philosophy of wine making - some years are better than others and the skill of the person that blends the oil can produce some fantastic vintages just as wine can. Unlike wine, olive oil has a shelf-life; the oil can become weakened in flavour and colour just from being kept for too long or from being bottled the wrong way. La Organic is bottled in dark green glass bottles or in cans that minimizes this weakening of the oil, but nevertheless the oil should never be kept in direct sunlight or left open for log periods of time. La Organic Olive oil is a living, breathing, pure product that once bottled needs to be kept safe and treated with respect so that its full flavor and healthy, pure golden liquid will enhance, add balance and enrich the food you eat."