Whether it’s a slice of baguette, a stalk of celery or a box of opened cereal, freshness is a key quality to enjoying food.
The same is true when savoring Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
You may have heard of oil characteristics like single varietal or mono cultivar. This means that the olive oil is pressed from just one oil variety. It upholds the utmost flavor integrity and has a unique profile based on the olive used.
Flavor and overall quality also come from how recent the olive oil was pressed, or crushed. Like different fruits and vegetables come in during different seasons, olives from different parts of the world are also brought in throughout the year. At Fustini’s, that distinction comes in oil from olives from the Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere.
Once those olives are crushed to make that pure and wholesome oil, the shelflife clock of freshness begins.
This is why choosing harvests from specific regions at specific times of the year is so essential to providing customers a quality product they know is of the utmost freshness.
With the recent launch of Fustini's SELECT olive oils, here we share some things to know about olive harvests.
1. Fresh crush doesn’t sit in a warehouse
To maximize that oil freshness, Fustini’s is intentional about moving that extra virgin olive oil right from its source in either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere into stores and kitchens. With freshness that good, there’s no time to be waiting around.
2. Different olives produce different flavored oils
Like varieties of apples have their own unique taste, so do olives when pressed. The flavor is different, even subtly, depending on which olive variety you select. While there is a whole range of flavor profiles you can detect in olive oil, the three most prominent characteristics include fruitiness, grassy-ness and creamy-ness. A specific variety will have it’s unique combination of these three characteristics. You can learn more about terms to describe your olive oil in this blog article.
3. Our Early Harvest Fresh Crush was "SELECT"ed in Spain
During the trip to Spain in October 2019, the team saw the harvest of olives that would soon turn into olive oil sold in their stores. This early harvest comprised olives that were bright green and just on the brink of turning ripe. The bright color is also seen in the resulting oil. While this ‘early harvest’ has the lowest yield of oil in the milling, the final product is the highest quality oil you can find.
4. Flavor profiles come from a top EVOO leader in the world
When it comes to developing a flavor profile for our SELECT olive oils, we turn to the experts. Paul Vossen is a leading influencer in distinguishing quality olive oils and other agricultural products. With over 30 years of experience, he’s established himself as a professional in evaluating oil quality and communicating that importance.
5. No crush is the same
Beyond the variance in flavor profiles of different olives, each crush of a particular harvest may also have subtle differences as well. Since each crush comes from a different harvest, despite being the same variety, it may still have an exact flavor that’s all its own. It’s just like how a vintage glass of wine from one year will have a subtle yet noticeable difference from the same wine but of a year previous.
6. Fustini’s is from the top 1%
With a focus on quality, Fustini’s SELECT fresh crush only accepts the very best. Guidelines for olive oil varieties are set at a high standard, putting it in the top 1% of quality olive oil. Fustini’s oils are often at just 0.1% - 0.3% acidity, giving it a rich and smooth flavor profile at maximum quality.
Like any natural and wholesome ingredient, olive oil tastes better when it’s freshest. With Fustini’s commitment to freshness in their new SELECT varieties, chefs, foodies and EVOO lovers can cook and bake with confidence knowing the oil they drizzle on or pour in brings the flavor, quality and richness they want.