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)

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September 8, 2020 In EVOO, Health

The Anti-Inflammatory: Extra Virgin Olive Oil

‘Itis’ is a wonderful colloquial word to describe the feeling of tiredness after you eat too much (food coma is a pretty useful term too). But what if you are often feeling slight itis – always a little full and a little exhausted? Nutritionists will tell you it is worth considering your bacterial flora and that potentially, your digestive tract could be inflamed.

There is a growing consensus about how a heathy gut affects a heathy mind (See The Gut-Brain Connection: How it Works and The Role of Nutrition and focus on varied flora is now central to many recommended diets. Renowned methods to maintain a healthy gut (or to regenerate it after a course of antibiotics or after an illness) are fermented foods such as miso, sauerkraut, kimchi and kombucha.

Having a seasonal and varied diet, with fibrous greens, can also help bacteria develop in the gut and extra virgin olive oil plays an essential part in this.  Study after study has confirmed the positive effects it has on the correct functioning of the gut (we’ve enjoyed learning from these): Health benefits of olive oil and its components: Impacts on gut microbiota antioxidant activities, and prevention of noncommunicable diseases;  Plant-Based Fat, Dietary Patterns Rich in Vegetable Fat and Gut Microbiota Modulation; and Influence of Phenol-Enriched Olive Oils on Human Intestinal Immune Function.

Lucky for us, gut bacteria loves a diet prominent in the phenolic compounds that we find in abundance in the best EVOO (For example in Cutrera’s extraordinary Mille) . Extra Virgin Olive Oil is an incredibly powerful natural anti-inflammatory, meaning you can keep that everyday itis feeling at bay.