LOCATION AND CLIMATE

 

As you might expect, olives grown in cooler areas where there is more moisture (rainfall and dew) exhibit leaner, more restrained characteristics.  This doesn’t however mean that great oil can now be made in Iceland – you need a minimum amount of sunshine to make your Extra Virgin Olive Oil taste remarkable, similarly to tomatoes or stone fruit.

Olive trees are sensitive to winter freeze (the Casaliva cultivar is more resistant to cold, hence being grown in the Garda region).  It is also easier to farm organically where the climate is more stable and less chemical sprays are required to keep the trees healthy.

OLIVE MATURITY

 

Here’s the thing – all olives are green.  When they become fully mature, they turn black.
Olive maturity at the time of harvest is a major factor in flavour and quality: olives harvested earlier (green olives) feature more bitter, grassy characteristics, with lower yields and with the highest anti-oxidant content.  The oil is a much more intense green colour and has a longer shelf-life.  In terms of production, milling can take longer with green olives (a longer malaxation - the action of slowly churning milled olives to release droplets of oil - is needed and can be more complicated) but the results are far superior!  Don’t choose olive oil from over mature fruit: it lacks all the potential goodness and flavour.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN GROVE AND MILL

 

People who care passionately about what they make and follow it personally every day have the capacity to create products with far higher quality, with integrity, and that taste of where they come from.  They are also able to do this by caring for the environment they inhabit.

FRANTOIO DI RIVA BOX

This box contains 6 bottles of extra virgin olive oil made exclusively by Frantoio di Riva from groves on the banks of lake Garda.

Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO green label x 3 bottles (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO organic white label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO blue label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, ULIVA Garda Trentino DOP x 1 bottle (50cl)

October 30, 2022 In Health

High Polyphenols, Mounting Evidence

We are in a sea of healthy eating messaging that is often so overwhelming. The overlaying of sound advice with commercial reasoning is, at times, hard to navigate.  I probably follow more than my fair share of nutritionists and food passionate individuals and sometimes that balance between what is suggested and what is real just sends me off for a few days and I get lost.

The arrival of new season olive oil however always brings me back to base. It is a unique moment in the year, not only for the anticipation of those fresh, vibrant, peppery flavours that express their cultivar, origin and vintage in such a tantalising way, but also because I’m reminded each year that the new season brings the highest concentration of polyphenols. A very special moment, when you get a super benefit as you head into the deep winter.

 

Mounting evidence* indicates the very many benefits on health of extra virgin olive oil being attributed to the phenolic compounds that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. The science is dry but it’s super clear. Giving extra virgin olive oil a major role in your diet is a huge benefit, associated with reduced risk of developing immune-mediated inflammatory responses such as cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disease, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD, type 2 diabetes, even cancer. Something that is totally natural, without any chemical additives or preservatives that has this sort of potential benefit, must be a good thing.  And the great news is that it tastes sensational.

 

* Numerous research articles can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/