VACUNA OLIVE OIL
Possibly the most cultured olive oil in the world?
OUR OLIVE OIL
As a result and alongside the provision of services and training to the cultural sector, OLIVEARTE produces a very fine cold-pressed, bilogical extra virgin olive oil in partnership with OZU cultural centre, Italy. We have branded our oil VACUNA, the Roman goddess for agriculture of this region, and under her benign eye we offer you this oil as a way of making manifest our approach to work, life and culture.
ADOPT AND NAME AN OLIVE TREE
As well as purchasing Vacuna olive oil you can also adopt and name an Olive tree from our Grove and become part of the process. Your tree will help the local economy, the cultural centre OZU, support art and artists and make the oil you receive every year more personal and interesting as it mixes with the salad!
BIOLOGICALLY GROWN
Following a tradition as old as the region itself, VACUNA oil is uniquely produced from the first cold pressing of the Alta Sabina olives. The olive trees of the area grow at a height of 400 to 700 metres and are exclusively biological. The fresh microclimate keeps away parasitic organisms, in particular the olive fly, which cannot breed at this altitude. This enables cultivation without pesticides or herbicides.
WHAT IS REAL EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL?
Extra virgin means that the oil is made from the very first pressing of the olives, which should be pressed no more than 24 hours after being picked. The first pressing yields the superior quality oil, and the second and third pressings produce an inferior quality oil. Our oil has no chemicals or colourings added to it and you will see that as it ages and mellows a natural sediment will appear in the bottom of the bottle.
SUGGESTED USES FOR VACUNA OLIVE OIL
Vacuna has a delicate and aromatic taste that makes it ideal for use on salads, cooking fresh fish such as salmon and of course, simply poured over freshly baked bread. We are sure you will notice the difference in taste and quality of Vacuna from the mass-produced olive oil sold in most supermarkets.
PRODUCTION METHOD
The olives used for Vacuna are first harvested by hand at the proper stage of ripeness and maturity. Experts feel that hand harvesting, as opposed to mechanical harvesting, enables olives of the same size and ripeness to be picked and eliminates bruising of the fruit which causes tartness and oil acidity.
The olives harvested are transferred daily to the mill. This is very important because this daily transfer minimizes the time spent between picking and pressing. By contrast, many extra virgin olive oil producers are known to transfer the olives by large trucks over long distances that expose the fragile fruit to a crushing weight and the hot Mediterranean sun, which causes the olives to begin oxidizing thus becoming acidic.
Once at the mill, the leaves are sucked away with air fans and the olives are washed with circulating potable water to remove all impurities. The stone mill and cold pressing technique is used for the extraction of our extra virgin olive oils.
The first step of extraction is crushing the olives to form a paste. The oil, comprising 20% to 30% of the olive, is nestled in pockets within the fruit's cells. The olives are crushed in a mill with two granite millstones rolling within a metal basin. Crushing and mixing the olives releases the oil from the cells of the olive without heating the paste. A side shutter on the mill's basin allows the mixed olive paste to be discharged and applied to round mats. The mats are stacked and placed under the head of a hydraulic press frame that applies downward pressure and extracts the oil.
HEALTH QUALITIES
In addition, this form of the oil contains "polyphenols", substances that have been found to be powerful antioxidants capable of protecting against certain types of disease. The polyphenols are not the only substances in the olive with health-promoting effects, but they are quite unique when compared to other commonly used culinary oils such as sunflower and soya oil. It is these polyphenols that really set extra virgin olive oils apart from any other oil and any other form of olive oil. The more refined the olive oil is, the smaller the quantity of polyphenols.
STORING YOUR VACUNA OIL
Olives are fruit; olive oil is a fruit juice. Air, heat, and light will cause olive oil to turn rancid. If your oil has a buttery taste, then it's probably rancid.
The ideal temperature for storing olive oil is 57°F or 14 degrees C, although a normal room temperature of 70ºF works very well if the olive oil is stored in a dark area where the temperature remains fairly constant. A kitchen cabinet located away from the stove and away from direct sunlight will work quite well. If you have a cellar, store your olive oils there and keep a small amount in your kitchen. Do not put olive oil in a container without a tight cap.
Refrigeration does not harm most grades of olive oil, but it is not recommended for high quality oil such as VACUNA because condensation may develop in the bottle, affecting the flavor. When chilled, or in cold weather, the oil may turn cloudy and even solidify. Such oil will clear again as it warms, so cloudiness should not be taken as an indication that the oil is part its prime. Be sure your bottles are tightly sealed.
Tinted glass, porcelain, or stainless steel are the best materials for containers; oil should never be stored in plastic or in reactive metals. Stay away from plastic containers as the oil can absorb PVCs. Clear glass bottles should also be avoided.
So, if you are interested in a little cultural olive oil click on 'The Oil - how to Order' and enjoy.