This Just In: Olio Nuovo is Here
New Olive Oils Air-Freighted from Tuscany and Sicily
on the menu this weekend
The olive harvest has begun in most northern hemisphere olive growing regions. The first cold-pressed oils are called “new oils,” with their very special and fleeting characteristic vegetal flavor and “heat” in the throat. That profound vibrancy lasts only about two weeks before it subsides and the oil stabilizes as a mellower product.
Chef Canales has devised several menu items, with more coming, that will be exceptional vehicles for the new oils on the menu this weekend:
❖Antipasti misti: Ceci bean purée, broccoli di Ciccio, and fresh
mozzarella di bufala with new oil
❖Butternut squash sformatino with new oil
❖First-of-the-season Porcini mushrooms with Castelmagno cheese
and pancetta vinaigrette
❖Orecchiette pasta with smoked mozzarella di bufala
and turnips greens with new oil
❖Charcoal-grilled local black cod with celery root and leek gratin,
green peppercorn-new oil sauce
The California olive harvest is late this year and it will be a light crop. We’ll see some new oil from McEvoy & Dickson by the end of the month. We are fortunate however, to have four new oils which have been air-freighted (yes, in violation of our usual philosophy of sustainability) to us over the past two days. Two come from producers we’re friends with in Chianti: Felsina and Badia a Coltibuono. From estate-grown olives–Frontoio variety from Felsina and Leccino from Badia–both producers use a new method of oil extraction. There are no huge milling stones, no huge presses. The olives are ground, not crushed, in a chamber with water, minimizing air contact. The resulting paste is emulsified and put into something like a food mill. Production is small scale and is said to be an improvement on even the Sinolea method, because it cuts down on oxidation. It also employs a new age centrifuge.
Felsina has gone several steps further in their pursuit. They pit the olives (the pits are later used in heaters) before the oil is extracted, so the pit and its own oil do not become part of the final product. Also, the oils from Felsina’s four olive varieties (from ten olive orchards) are kept separate, under hydrogen, until blended which is done to order throughout the year.
We are also pleased to have olio nuovo from the Nocellino estate in Sicily. Though a warmer climate, the oil from Sicily has the same characteristics of any new oil. Chef Canales featured Nocellino olio nuovo on today’s lunch menu to accompany spaghetti with Watson Farm lamb polpettini.
None of these estates sell an olio nuovo–these are just for us.
Here, Roberto Stucci of Badia a Coltibuono and Guiseppe Mazzocolin of Felsina tell us about this year’s harvest:






I love your explanation of the taste of new oils. I just tasted such an oil at Elephant in the Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand. I think the brand was The Village Press but not sure.
If you get a chance check out our site too. We are two wine and food professionals self-funding a trip around the world.
http://www.nativefoodandwine.com
Cheers!