copyright, 2009, Maria Liberati
Editor: Kate Hollinger
Umbrian olives have been known as the best olives in Italy since ancient Roman times. Even today, Umbrian olives are notorious for making olive oil with an amazing potent flavor and digestive qualities and nutritional values to boot. The recipes for olive oil have been passed down through generations of Umbrian farmers, starting with the Romans and Etruscans. The region of Umbria is perched on a pyramid of hills 380 to 600 meters above sea level, which is surrounded by miles of olive groves. These olives come from the slopes of Apennine where the shoots are located, facing west.
Extra virgin olive oil is obtained by chilling the olives that are found in the foothills of Umbria and these are picked annually and entirely by hand. This process, known as pruning, involves the farmer climbing a ladder and picking the olives from the trees, working from the top down. The picking, transportation, washing and milling processes are all done so that they maintain the characteristics of the century-old olive oil.
Olive oil types are distinguished by their acidity level, and they are broken down into four categories. The extra virgin is the highest grade you can find and therefore the most popular, and has an acidity level of less than 1%. Virgin olive oil has a flavor that is more inconspicuous and a higher acidity, usually around 1.5 to 2%. Semi-fine is a blend of the two and has an acidity of 3% per 100 ml of oil. Finally, pure olive oil has a very modest flavor, color, and style and doesn’t overpower your dish.
Extra virgin olive oil, which is most prominent in Umbria, has an intense green color, a soft olive scent, and very rich, full flavors. It is best used for dipping uncooked breads in and flavoring soups, vegetables, salads, meat, and fish. To keep the product at its best, you should store it in a closed container in a cool environment away from direct sunlight. In some parts of Italy, farmers even press small amounts of olives for the oil with fresh citrus fruit.
Check out the new Recipes and Articles page with lots more recipes and articles for you. Check back often, we are always updating with more articles. Go to Recipes & Articles
Experience Italy Cooking School & Tour– if you want to see first hand the olive oil making process in Umbria, join me September 23-Oct 6th for a 7 day, 6 night stay at the villa that houses The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm Cooking School in Italy. Join me for a hands-on authentic Italian cooking classes, visits to local olive oil mills and vineyards, local excursions and La Dolce Vita lifestyle at the villa nestled in the hills of Umbria. Participation is limited. Register with deposit by May 1st and receive a $200 discount. Go to Cooking School in Italy for photos, itinerary, prices and more or call Sue at 1-800-581-9020.
Thanks to all who have come out to The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm Cooking School programs at Whole Foods Markets in your area for the month of Febraury. If there is a Whole Foods Market in your area, ask for the next The Basic Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Liberati tm Cooking School Program and book signings. Go to https://www.marialiberati.com for upcoming dates.
Mangia Bene, Vivi Bene,
Maria
Olive oil is very tasty and has some nutty taste too.:”;
Wow, I didnt realise they chilled the olives.
Would love to be on a tour, but 12,000 km is quite a distance to travel.
olive oil is a great additive on foods since it has low saturated fat`:”
the taste of olive oil is very very good, it is one of the best tasting cooking oils out there”-
olive oil is very very tasty if you put it in fried foods and you can taste it raw too ;”:
Extra virgin olive oil is best used at lower temperatures and would not be my first choice as an oil if I am frying something. It is best used for sauces, salad dressings, condiments, sauteeing, cooking at lower temperatures, it is a delicate, fragrant, olive oil. A high quality olive oil does add great flavor to a dish!
Paul :thanks for your note, you are absolutely right. That should be in meters not miles. We are in the process of providing both metric and US system measurements for all measurements on Blog since there are so many readers based out of US, and are still in the process of doing conversions. Thanks again and love your site also!
Hi – in actuality great site you have created. I enjoyed reading this posting. I did want to publish a remark to tell you that the design of this content is very aesthetically delightful. I used to be a graphic designer, now I am a copy editor. I have always enjoyed functioning with information processing systems and am trying to learn code in my free time.
Aw, it was an incredibly good post. In idea I’d like to put in writing like this furthermore – taking time and actual work to create a great write-up
Olive oil is great for any recipe but it is also a good source of phytochemicals and vitamins.`
My blog
http://www.healthmedicinelab.com/stomach-virus-symptoms/
Monounsaturated fatty acids are found in high amounts in nuts and oils, such as olive oil and vegetable oil. They can also be found in meat and dairy products. Although monounsaturated fats are present in a wide variety of foods, olive oil is perhaps the most acclaimed source of these beneficial fats.*
An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a friend who had been conducting a little research on this. And he actually ordered me lunch simply because I stumbled upon it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this issue here on your internet site.
Hello there, I found your site by the use of Google whilst looking for a similar topic, your site got here up, it appears
great. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hi there, just changed into alert to your blog thru Google, and located that
it is really informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful in the event you proceed this in future. A lot of other folks will likely be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
My spouse and I stumbled over here by a different website and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i am following you. Look forward to looking over your web page yet again. ALDO – wentylacja Białystok
It is super blog, I want to be like you web-site
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you penning this write-up plus the rest of the website is also really good.
Great information. Lucky me I recently found your website by chance (stumbleupon).
I have bookmarked it for later!
Keep on working, great job!
Hi there it’s me, I am also visiting this web page on a regular basis, this web site is truly good and the users are in fact sharing good thoughts.
Helpful info. Lucky me I discovered your site unintentionally, and I am stunned why this coincidence didn’t came about earlier! I bookmarked it.
Hi there, I found your website via Google while looking for a related topic, your website came up, it looks good. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Thank you..hope you visit again! Are t here any topics you would like to see more of on this blog, or any cooking questions you have?
thanks again for visiting! Maria
Excellent beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how can i subscribe for a blog website? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast offered bright clear concept
Hello there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog. Is it difficult to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about creating my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any points or suggestions? Thanks
THanks for your comment, so yes write about somethng you really enjoy and jsut start, dont overthink too much, just begin and post at least once a week!
Hi! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My blog goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Fantastic blog by the way!
Very well written information. It will be valuable to anyone who employess it, as well as myself. Keep up the good work – looking forward to more posts.
Thank you, let is know if there are any other topics you would like mroe infornation on or would like to hear about! look forward to hearing from you..Maria
Thank you for another informative web site. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such an ideal way? I’ve a project that I am just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such info.
Thanks for visiting and your comment(s). So if there are any other quesions you have on olive oil or Etruscans, let me know!
I do consider all the ideas you have offered for your post. They are very convincing and can definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very short for starters. May just you please extend them a bit from next time? Thank you for the post.
I will keep that in mind when posting..thanks for the comments
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author.I will always bookmark your blog and will eventually come back later in life. I want to encourage continue your great job, have a nice holiday weekend!
you have got an awesome weblog right here! would you like to make some invite posts on my blog?
Hey! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely delighted I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
Yes, please return..thanks for taking the time to comment..
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. thanks
Thank you, yes the site was designed by a company. Let me know if you need some reccommendations for your website
Wow that was unusual. I just wrote an extremely long comment but after I clicked submit my
comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all
that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!
Than you,glad you are enjoying, visit again! Maria
Wow sorry to hear, would have liked to see the rest of your comment, but thanks for visiting and commenting!