0:00

back to Old Fashioned on Purpose, the

0:02

show where we explore what we have

0:04

left behind as we have raced towards

0:06

progress as a culture, and

0:08

also how we can get all the good

0:10

pieces back. So I'm your host,

0:12

Jill Winger. Many of you know me. I

0:14

have been homesteading out here on the wide

0:17

open Wyoming Prairie with my family for well

0:19

over a decade, and I am extremely passionate

0:21

about teaching old-fashioned skills to people from all

0:23

walks of life, no matter where you live.

0:26

So today's a really fun episode, and I've been looking

0:28

forward to this for a while. Every

0:31

year, usually in the fall, if you're on my

0:33

newsletter list, which I hope you are, you

0:36

get an email that offers you the

0:38

opportunity to get a bottle of olive

0:40

oil for a dollar. And often in

0:42

those emails, I give you some information

0:44

about the olive oil industry, and I

0:47

didn't realize this till probably six or seven

0:49

years ago. There's a lot of fraud, and

0:51

there's a lot of weird things that happen

0:53

in that world. And so when I became

0:55

educated, I started seeking out better options, and

0:57

I found an amazing company

0:59

that I've been working with for quite some time.

1:01

So I offer a bottle of that oil every

1:04

year, and the funniest part about that is

1:06

I get so many responses from people who

1:08

are like, is this real? It's too good

1:10

to be true. Like, is this company for

1:12

real? Is this a scam? And so today,

1:15

well, first off, my answer is no, it's not

1:17

a scam, but today I'm excited to go straight

1:19

to the source, and I have the olive oil

1:21

hunter himself, the founder of the Fresh

1:23

Pressed Olive Oil Club, joining

1:25

me today. Mr.

1:28

TJ Robinson is one of the world's most

1:30

respective authorities on all matters olive oil. He

1:33

has an incredible palate, so much so that he

1:35

has been invited to be a judge in

1:38

prestigious olive oil tasting competitions over

1:40

in Italy, which you can only imagine how much of a big deal

1:42

that is. And he is dedicated

1:45

to finding the best olive oils on

1:48

the planet. He travels all over the world, and I got so

1:50

lucky I was able to snag him for

1:52

an episode today. So welcome, TJ. It's

1:57

such a pleasure to be here. I'm so excited

1:59

to have some. some time to talk

2:01

with you. And you've been so

2:03

supportive of our mission of supporting

2:05

small family farmers around the world

2:08

that we work with. They

2:10

work so hard to produce

2:12

amazing quality products that have

2:14

never been delivered to America

2:16

before. We race them

2:18

here by jets. And as your listeners

2:22

and followers know, the

2:24

quality of that taste experience

2:26

is really exciting. And

2:29

how you can leverage that in

2:31

your own cooking to simplify

2:33

your recipes and flavors in

2:35

your kitchen, it's

2:37

just really exciting to have an opportunity to

2:39

talk with you about that today. So thank

2:42

you so much for the invitation. Yes,

2:44

absolutely. I say this usually in every

2:46

email when I talk about this during

2:48

our promotion every fall. But I

2:51

did not realize what olive oil was

2:53

supposed to taste like until I started

2:55

getting your oils. I assumed olive oil

2:58

with odorless and tasteless like canola oil

3:00

or vegetable oil. And

3:03

so it was quite shocking to me the first time I tried

3:05

a bottle of your oil. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this

3:07

actually tastes like something. It's astounding.

3:11

It's so true. I often say that

3:13

store-bought olive oil, which is a commodity

3:15

product, it's a bulk product, is

3:18

very much like dried herbs.

3:20

So you know how dried

3:22

older herbs can be kind

3:24

of flat? They don't

3:26

really have a lot of

3:28

vitality to them or real

3:30

antioxidants or real flavor versus

3:34

fresh herbs. And if

3:36

you have that fresh herb experience

3:38

or when you first started incorporating

3:40

fresh herbs or tried like a fresh

3:42

basil pesto and you're like, whoa, this

3:45

is amazing because

3:47

it's so full of flavor and

3:49

aroma and antioxidants and healing powers.

3:53

It's pretty amazing. So I liken

3:55

fresh pressed olive oil to fresh

3:57

herbs. And I also think of olive

3:59

oil. oil as a especially fresh

4:02

pressed olive oil as a sauce

4:04

that mother nature created for you.

4:07

It should have a lot of flavor, a

4:09

lot of aroma and all those sort of

4:12

things and we're definitely going to talk today

4:14

about how to identify a real olive oil

4:16

versus one of those fakes that you talked

4:19

about. And speaking of fakes just to go

4:21

down that road a little bit, right

4:24

now the Mediterranean is

4:26

experiencing one of the worst

4:28

harvests in a generation.

4:31

This is two harvests in a row

4:33

specifically in Spain that have been super

4:35

tough. In Spain a

4:37

lot of the olive oil is produced, the

4:40

Roman Empire planted in the south

4:42

of Spain a gazillion olive

4:44

trees. It's the largest man-made forest

4:46

on earth. It's in Andalusia, Spain.

4:49

It's olive trees and

4:51

there have been fraud in olive

4:53

oil since Roman times. There's a

4:56

great book called Extrovergenity that was

4:58

written by Tom Mueller. It

5:00

came, he wrote an article for the

5:02

New Yorker called The Slippery Business of

5:04

Olive Oil. But basically

5:07

when demand increases like for

5:09

the health benefits of olive

5:11

oil, people want to try

5:13

to eliminate many seed oils

5:15

from their diets for their

5:17

health depleting properties. They

5:19

keep getting published and the recommendations

5:21

of olive oil and improving your

5:23

health keep coming out more and

5:25

more studies. So demand

5:27

for extra virgin olive oil is

5:29

up and also the

5:31

supply right now

5:35

because of olives are a fruit

5:38

and you need to think of olive oil

5:40

as a fruit juice. So basically

5:46

to think about that, it needs to be

5:49

Cared for and loved like a fresh

5:51

fruit juice. And that's why we express

5:53

that a low temperature flown in by

5:55

jet directly to the club members who

5:58

recognize immediately those flavors. But. This

6:00

fraud that's happening is happening

6:02

throughout the Mediterranean. Or or

6:04

they're actually. there's such a

6:07

high price for commodity olive

6:09

oil right now that farmers

6:11

are actually getting their. Trucks.

6:14

Are driving into Grows during the

6:16

night, parking under trees they're adding

6:18

the branches, letting them fall in

6:21

the backs of the truck, and

6:23

driving off with farmers fruit because

6:25

it's very expensive by the leader

6:28

right now to buy olive oil.

6:30

So whenever there's increase demand, there's

6:32

also and lower supply. That's what

6:35

invites the fraudsters in. So just

6:37

just like two weeks ago in

6:40

the Miami Herald are there was

6:42

a story. Sixty. Eight thousand gallons

6:44

of fate in edible olive oil

6:46

in quotes these in Spain cops

6:48

say a lab and arrested. I'm

6:51

in a going on to talk

6:53

about that the chainsaw attack that

6:55

are happening the break Ginza warehouses.

6:57

So really it's just a real

6:59

time to educate consumers about what

7:01

is real olive oil. How do

7:03

you tell if I'm tasty real

7:05

olive oil and that and that's

7:08

will get to today because that's

7:10

the best thing you can do

7:12

is educate your palette. And know what

7:14

to taste for on what to look for. So

7:16

thank you again. Yeah, I think. credible.

7:19

I'm. Who would have thought there's such

7:21

as kind of cloak and dagger to the stuff

7:23

going on with all of Wales some. So when

7:25

it's and I'm I'm assuming we. I mean if

7:27

we're if there is fraudulent. Olive Oil or Adultery

7:30

to l of all that. Has a

7:32

high chance of getting into the bottles at the

7:34

supermarkets. In the Us is that correct? Correct.

7:37

Because if you look at a bottle of

7:39

an olive oil you'll see their many countries

7:42

have origins on it. It'll say like I'd

7:44

see is able to have like six or

7:46

eight countries of origin that are stamped on

7:48

there. And there's an

7:50

there's not a lotta love that

7:52

goes into commodity quality olive oil.

7:54

So this is the product. The

7:56

I'm focus on his artisan or

7:58

olive oil single. State people that

8:01

have mills on their own firearms

8:03

and that are really love and

8:05

passionate about the product. They're pretty

8:07

easy and and are winning most

8:09

of the contest in their countries

8:11

of origin as being the top

8:13

producers in their in their regions

8:15

and then I come along and

8:17

say you know I want you

8:19

to do an early harvest then

8:21

you know that sort of thing

8:24

which will will get more into

8:26

but you know it's it's definitely.

8:29

An. Important product is of. It's a

8:31

very big business. It is a twenty

8:33

two billion dollar industry. Six hours man

8:35

So what what time you are talks

8:38

about and when he talked about i

8:40

get in the New Yorker was that

8:42

I'm at the aggro mafia and in

8:45

the Mediterranean they have learned you know

8:47

they don't really have the traffic in

8:49

draw The said they can take. Our.

8:52

Olive Oil an adult trade. it would lower

8:54

quality olive oil or have added be sold

8:56

as extra virgin with as people not know

8:59

what it tastes like you folks like you

9:01

folks like me. When I first learned the

9:03

taste olive oil I didn't recognize it either.

9:06

And and so but but sell

9:09

it for the high price that

9:11

extra virgin the sold for sto

9:13

date they can skim small and

9:15

they add chlorophyll to as they

9:17

add basic beta carotene to try

9:19

to disguise the color and the

9:21

flavor of. The oil though there

9:23

is there's a is definitely a

9:25

a slippery business he he really

9:27

need and advocates is like be

9:29

of that is our part Sama

9:31

yea empire Olive Oil Concierge there

9:33

are so my my members get

9:36

three bottles a quarter as you

9:38

know the same I ship to

9:40

your house and and the people

9:42

who cooks are using the days

9:44

they are. They. Really

9:46

enjoy the experience of having oil in

9:49

their kitchen. So I'm an I'm you

9:51

know where. Very proud of what we've

9:53

been able to do to support the

9:55

small family farmers you know around the

9:57

world because it's a very old ways.

10:01

The and not not to a out and.

10:04

It. It's his old, it's an

10:06

old way of living and a

10:08

definitely fits into your phobes and

10:10

how what you are trying to

10:13

champion which is you know slowing

10:15

down are getting back to the

10:17

things that we can produce and

10:19

and really out I'm enjoying that

10:21

product to are so the olive

10:24

oil world the at that at

10:26

the level I play at is

10:28

is very much of passion driven

10:30

business eyes, not a profit driven

10:33

business and and really. What we're

10:35

trying to do is preserve old

10:37

our varieties. Just in Italy alone

10:39

there are five hundred is that

10:41

the olive variety so seat of

10:43

these like you would apple varieties

10:45

when you see gov like Granny

10:47

Smith vs. Mackintosh vs Golden Delicious.

10:49

well as the same in Italy

10:51

when it comes the all a

10:54

variety there about five hundred that

10:56

are all over the have different

10:58

aromas, different. Levels

11:00

of bitterness and spiciness and that sort

11:02

of thing. So it is this old

11:04

ways. Old World that we're trying

11:07

to help preserve. So we go

11:09

in and and a lot of

11:11

people have left the country side

11:14

so children and grandchildren their their

11:16

their grandparents worked and agriculture. they

11:18

last in the villages in Sicily

11:21

where they had the family olive

11:23

trees and moved to Rome and

11:25

Milan for school and they never

11:28

came back because it was really

11:30

hard work maintaining our agriculture. So

11:32

now with the a broadband internet.

11:35

and demand for this products were actually

11:37

go a un and rehab he he

11:39

grows were cleaning up grows and taking

11:41

them back and getting them into production

11:43

with pruning and cleaning and although sort

11:46

of thing so as to demand for

11:48

the club grows were able to support

11:50

a smaller communities whether it's in greece

11:52

i in the till he on region

11:55

or or in italy so it some

11:57

is pretty cool to be apart of

11:59

that. So that's why your support means

12:01

so much. So we appreciate all that

12:03

you do for us, Jill, and your

12:06

group. It means a lot. Yeah, you're

12:08

really speaking our language of just my audience

12:10

of, you know, how can we reinvigorate those

12:12

family farms, get the power back in the

12:14

hands of the small producers instead of

12:16

the conglomerates. So I

12:18

feel like there's so much information, so much

12:21

I want to ask you. I feel like

12:23

there's kind of two buckets here that I'm

12:25

passionate about and my people are passionate about.

12:27

First off, I'd love to learn more about

12:29

just the process of the different varieties and

12:31

the harvest and the pressing so we can

12:33

understand that on a small scale. And then

12:35

I'd love to also speak to the flavors.

12:37

How do you tell? How do you cook

12:39

with it? Because I also have a lot

12:41

of culinary folks in the audience. So can

12:43

we kind of start with the farming angle

12:45

and then we'll drift over into the kitchen.

12:49

Absolutely. And I'll get a little bit into

12:51

my origin story of olive oil too. So

12:53

I was an ex-train chef,

12:55

went to school in Asheville, North Carolina,

12:57

where I was born and raised, a

12:59

Southern boy. I got

13:01

this job. I was working for Biltmore State at the

13:04

time and had this

13:06

opportunity with a visiting chef who came

13:08

to Asheville from the Food Network to

13:10

have the opportunity to move to

13:12

New York City to be his assistant. So

13:15

after culinary school and pastry school and

13:17

hospitality school, I moved to New York and

13:20

worked for the Food Network for,

13:22

I don't know, about eight years. So it

13:24

was a wonderful experience and as part of

13:26

that, I was exposed as a food, wine

13:28

and travel writer to some of the best

13:31

food and wine experiences around the world. And,

13:34

you know, being a Southern boy,

13:36

I didn't grow up with

13:38

olive trees in my backyard. Like most

13:40

Americans, we're going back 20 years

13:42

ago, in the US, we

13:45

produce about, in those days,

13:47

like 3% of what we consume in

13:50

America. Now we're probably less than

13:52

10% of the olive oil we

13:54

consume as Americans is produced in

13:56

America, mostly in California. So

13:59

I had never, like if you took

14:01

me and gave me

14:03

a bottle of Welch's apple

14:07

juice and then in the fall

14:09

here in Western North Carolina, took me out

14:11

to a cider press and

14:13

I got to taste fresh pressed cider. I

14:15

would immediately know the difference, right? And I,

14:17

my palate was educated. I knew everything about

14:20

apples and apple cider and I loved apple

14:22

cider slushies as a kid and all that

14:24

sort of thing. Like I was a big

14:26

fan of going to the Grove as

14:29

a kid, but I had never

14:31

been to an olive harvest. So

14:33

I got invited to this olive

14:35

harvest in Sicily when I was living

14:38

in New York and Giacomo invited

14:40

me to this event. And

14:42

so it was myself, my friend Nancy, who

14:44

was also a travel writer. We

14:47

spent the day on this farm, beautiful

14:50

hillside farm, looking over the Mediterranean,

14:52

all these old olive trees, really

14:54

my first experience being around olive

14:56

trees. I learned that they were

14:58

fruit. I learned that the

15:00

minute we picked them, we wanted them

15:03

to be really green because the more

15:05

green they are, the higher they

15:07

are in antioxidants and polyphenols.

15:10

Also I learned the greener they are, the harder they are

15:12

to get off the tree. So it's

15:14

a lot of work. But

15:17

we spent the day with Giacomo

15:19

and Matteo and his family and

15:21

picking and beating the trees and

15:23

the olives were falling on the

15:25

net. We placed them in bins

15:27

and then we covered them with branches

15:30

to keep the sun out, the warm

15:32

Sicilian sun because we keep them in

15:34

these small bins to keep them cool

15:37

and covered to be shade.

15:39

And then later in

15:41

the evening, probably around 6 p.m., we

15:44

load up in the back of a thea

15:47

panda, which is like a, I

15:49

don't know, like a little SUV. I

15:51

don't know, it's a little all wheel drive car they

15:54

use a lot in Italy. And

15:56

so we load up these bins of fruit and

15:58

we go to the local mill. And

16:01

the mill experience, this was the

16:03

first time I'd been to an

16:06

olive mill, was very unique. It's

16:08

very deep in Italian culture, Spanish

16:10

culture, throughout the Mediterranean, where

16:13

they take their family fruit to

16:15

these mills, they put their name

16:17

on top, it's done by weight,

16:19

and then you wait your turn.

16:21

And essentially, they took our

16:24

fruit and they put it in,

16:26

they wash it, they then

16:29

put it in a crust

16:31

to crush the fruit, and then it

16:33

goes into a relaxer where it sits

16:35

and spins and kind of processes. And

16:37

then the third step is a centrifuge.

16:40

And so I was invited with

16:42

Mateo, we were very excited to go

16:44

and stand there at the spigot

16:47

where the olive oil is flowing out of the

16:49

press with a small cup, we were each given

16:52

cups. And I was warned that, you

16:54

know, be careful, this is full flavor

16:56

and can be spicy. And I was

16:59

like, really? I never had olive oil

17:01

like this. I'm supposed to be a

17:03

card carrying foodie, but okay, I'm ready.

17:05

I'm ready. So I take my cup,

17:07

I put it under the centrifuge where

17:09

the olive oil flows into my cup.

17:11

And I look at this beautiful green

17:13

gold and the aromas coming out of

17:15

the cup were like wheatgrass and all

17:18

these amazing arugula and basil like all

17:20

the, and it was only olives from

17:22

Mateo's trees. I was there for every step

17:24

of the process. And the

17:26

moment I stuck my nose in that glass,

17:29

I really kind of got upset because I

17:32

knew that this product had been kept for me

17:34

as an American, even as like a foodie, I

17:36

should have known that this was out there. But

17:40

I had never tasted it as a chef.

17:42

And then I did my taste test and

17:44

my life changed at that moment. I

17:47

brought back the oil to my family and

17:49

friends in New York and my chef friends,

17:51

they fell in love with it. I

17:53

had never had anything like it. And

17:56

like I said, I really got upset

17:58

that this was not available. So

18:00

I was the crazy guy who

18:02

put the first batch of olive

18:04

oil from that harvest on a

18:06

plane from Sicily to New York

18:08

City to be able

18:10

to serve and share this

18:12

amazing product. So you

18:15

know, sorry to go down that rabbit hole, but I kind

18:17

of wanted to give you my experience

18:19

too, because your listeners can have that

18:21

same experience for themselves when they open

18:23

a bottle of olive oil from the

18:25

Fresh Breast Olive Oil Club. They're going

18:28

to see and have their own taste

18:30

of Tiffany. So anyway, that's

18:33

a little bit about that.

18:35

Did I miss anything? I know there were other

18:37

parts of that one. Well, that's

18:40

awesome. And I feel like a lot of

18:42

our listeners will relate just like the first

18:44

time. Excuse me, they they taste

18:46

the tomato from the garden, heirloom tomato versus a

18:48

mushy store-bought tomato, like maybe in a lesser scale,

18:50

not so you know, they didn't have to fly

18:52

across the country. But you know, I know they

18:54

resonate with that. It's so different. Especially

18:57

as Americans, we have this

18:59

perception of what food tastes like and often it's

19:01

just not. It's so bland

19:03

compared to the real deal. So yeah,

19:06

no true deal. So as

19:08

you were talking about the process, one question that

19:11

I've received a lot, because I you know, I

19:13

don't love seed oils, the industrial oils that you

19:15

know, America loves so much. And I kind of

19:17

speak out against those sometimes. And every

19:19

so often people will be like, OK, so

19:22

but I don't understand what makes olive oil

19:24

healthier than like a canola or a

19:26

random whatever vegetable oil is because

19:28

it's still a pressed oil. You know, like

19:30

what's the difference? How come olive oil doesn't

19:32

have the same health concerns as a seed

19:35

oil? Yes,

19:37

well, it is the fat

19:39

composition of the

19:41

olive oil and of the olives themselves. And

19:43

usually when people talk to me about this,

19:45

I go in

19:48

the fruit direction, fruit oil.

19:50

So avocado oil, people also

19:53

is recommended over seed oils.

19:55

Many people recommend that. Great

19:58

seed oil is also. used

20:00

for higher heat temperatures. I hear

20:02

people talk about that as well.

20:06

I will tell you that in the

20:08

Mediterranean, when I go into Sicilian grandmother's

20:10

kitchens, what they're using

20:12

for everything in their kitchen is

20:14

extra virgin olive oil. And

20:17

olive oil, the fat

20:20

makeup of olive oil

20:22

is important compared to

20:25

seed oils. But

20:27

in addition to fats, because if you go

20:29

into the grocery store and you see light

20:31

olive oil, that doesn't mean

20:34

low calorie or anything like that. That's

20:37

a product that was a lower

20:39

quality olive oil that has been

20:41

stripped of all the flavors, the

20:44

rancidity and that sort of thing. That's

20:47

a down chain product,

20:49

we would say. And

20:52

that is a refined olive oil. And

20:55

that is just healthy fat. Now

20:58

what they've really discovered about olive

21:00

oil and the health benefits, it's

21:02

not just about the fat. There

21:05

is this whole other compound called

21:07

antioxidant and polyphenols. So these polyphenols

21:10

that have been discovered, and we

21:12

measure those each quarter. So I

21:14

send my oils to the top

21:17

lab in Italy every quarter, whether

21:19

they're coming from Spain or Portugal

21:22

or Italy or Chile or Australia,

21:25

which we go to for

21:27

their harvest season, which is

21:29

opposite the Mediterranean to get fresh pressed

21:31

oil. We

21:33

actually have those polyphenols measured.

21:36

And so most of the

21:38

scientific studies you see around

21:41

health benefits of olive oil have really

21:45

targeted these antioxidants-polyphenols

21:49

to be the real powerhouse

21:52

in what makes olive

21:54

oil so beneficial and healthy

21:56

for you, whether it's for your

21:58

skin or your gut. or your, um, your

22:02

heart health. I mean, all these sort of

22:04

things are, um, are,

22:06

are tied into these antioxidants

22:09

and polyphenols, but the economics

22:11

of olive oil production as

22:14

a commodity product lead

22:16

because it's a fruit, the longer

22:18

you leave it hanging on the

22:20

tree, the more olive oil that

22:22

you get in the fruit, but

22:25

the lower levels of antioxidants

22:28

and polyphenols. So the

22:30

problem is when olive oil producers

22:32

are selling their olive oil by

22:34

the leader, by the kilo to,

22:37

um, to the market, they're incentivized to

22:39

leave the olive hanging on the tree

22:41

as long as possible to get, it's

22:43

easier to harvest. Sometimes it's Spain and

22:45

even just, they don't have no harvest

22:47

costs. It just falls to the ground.

22:49

They vacuum it up and then they

22:52

send it on, um, to

22:54

the refinery. Um, and

22:56

so there it's, it's a, um,

22:59

if it's green, if it's

23:01

harvested, when it's green, you

23:03

have higher levels of antioxidants,

23:05

polyphenols, but those deteriorate by

23:07

about 50% in

23:09

the first six months. So,

23:11

um, that's why it's important to

23:13

fly it in by jet and

23:15

to consume it when it's fresh,

23:17

so that really ties into learning

23:19

how to be an olive oil

23:22

consumer, um, buying in dark glass,

23:24

uh, like our olive oils delivered

23:26

in, um, looking on the label

23:28

like this one here, we have

23:30

the, uh, the harvest season, Italian

23:32

harvest season So

23:35

that was in, um, November and

23:37

December, um, the Italian

23:39

olive harvest. Um, so you

23:41

got to look for harvest date on bottles,

23:43

not expiration date, because that can, that's based

23:45

on when it was bottled, not when it

23:47

was harvested. And that could be dated out

23:49

for quite a while in the

23:52

store bought product. Um, and also

23:54

if you can go to a

23:56

place where you can try the oil first, that's

23:58

also a nice thing to be able to do. and we

24:00

can talk about what to look for and taste for

24:02

as well. And

24:04

just knowing that in many cases you're

24:07

getting what you pay for. You

24:09

can't ask a farmer to, so

24:12

we talked about black olives versus green a little

24:14

bit. So let's just talk a little bit about

24:16

yield. So my

24:18

oils are about 10% yield.

24:22

So you pick the green fruit, you would

24:24

have to pick, you know, 10

24:26

bottles worth of fruits to get this much

24:28

juice with a 10% yield. If

24:31

you leave the fruit on

24:33

the tree an additional month, let's

24:36

say, and it gets

24:38

black and really filled with oil, you

24:42

could get up to 20 to 25% oil out of that fruit. So

24:47

there are crazy folks like me who come

24:49

along and say, I'm in it for health

24:52

benefits, I'm in it for flavor, and

24:54

I really want the best.

24:56

I want you to give it loving care

24:58

throughout the whole path. I want it

25:01

picked beautifully, I want it pressed immediately.

25:03

I don't want it sitting around and

25:06

deteriorating before it gets in the press.

25:09

When it actually is in the press, we want to use

25:11

a press that is

25:14

really focused on quality, not letting

25:16

oxygen in the process, and

25:19

also very low temperature because you can cook

25:21

the olive oil. As

25:23

you're processing the olives, the

25:25

more heat you add, the more oil you

25:27

extract, the less flavor. So there's a lot

25:30

of cooked oils out there, as

25:33

you mentioned, like flat and that sort of

25:35

thing. And

25:38

then we want to

25:41

serve, use quickly.

25:46

That's a major part of the

25:48

process is the economics of olive

25:50

oil for commodity level olive oil

25:52

is slanted in the direction of

25:54

the low quality product.

26:00

I didn't realize the yield changed so much depending on

26:02

the timing. But that, yeah, like you said, you get

26:04

what you pay for. So now it makes absolute sense

26:06

why the higher quality is going to cost more because

26:08

the yields are smaller. Um, yeah,

26:10

fascinating. Yeah. Um, yeah, it's

26:12

a, it's a, it's

26:14

a fun world. Um, you know, I, my club,

26:17

uh, we're, we're 25,000 members strong, uh, all over

26:19

the US,

26:22

uh, and every quarter people would see

26:24

three oils, a mild, medium and bold.

26:26

And you talked about culinary. You wanted

26:28

to get into culinary. Yeah, let's go

26:30

there. Um, every, every quarter,

26:32

uh, along with the

26:34

oils, they get a tasting note

26:36

card that talks about, um, the

26:38

tasting profiles, there's a mild, a

26:40

medium and a bold in each

26:42

trio, depending on the country of

26:44

origin, there's always a mild, medium and bold,

26:47

and those, um, are meant to be paired

26:50

with foods that are mild, medium and bold.

26:52

So for example, if you're making a fish

26:54

or a chicken dish, you most likely would

26:56

like to use a mild oil on that.

26:58

If you're making a nice grilled charge steak

27:01

for dinner, you want to use more of

27:03

a bold oil, um, so

27:05

that, that people really get

27:07

into the food pairing suggestions, um,

27:10

on these, um, people. I

27:13

also, because I

27:15

want my club member to have the

27:18

experience, like almost like they're, they're going

27:20

to the farm with me. I try

27:22

to almost like you would go to

27:24

your, uh, local green market and how

27:27

you get to know your farmer. So

27:29

I give, um, every quarter my club

27:31

members get a, uh, my pressing report,

27:33

which shows, tells why I'm in the

27:36

country of origin. Uh, I'm

27:38

showing some, some of the photos there

27:40

of me with the farmers and the

27:42

trees. And we talk about why I

27:44

selected, uh, the oils I did.

27:46

Like there's a great, uh, family from

27:48

Umbria here, um, that, that

27:51

produced our mild oil this quarter. And,

27:53

and I really go into, uh, why

27:56

their farm is special and these,

27:59

these, uh, farmers that I work

28:01

with, they're global olive oil competitions. You

28:03

talked about me being invited to be

28:05

a judge in competitions. And there

28:07

are tasting guides, almost

28:09

like wine review books that

28:12

review wineries. Well, there are also

28:14

olive oil books that

28:17

are published throughout the Mediterranean. And

28:21

every year there are competitions all

28:23

over the Mediterranean in country and

28:25

international competition where you send your

28:28

olive oil to be judged by

28:30

a panel of experts. So

28:32

this panel of experts is

28:35

really what helps certify olive

28:37

oil as extra virgin. Olive

28:40

oil is put through two tests to

28:42

be deemed extra virgin. One

28:44

is a chemistry test. So

28:46

that tells us about the quality of the

28:48

fruit at the time of harvest. It tells

28:51

us about

28:53

more about those polyphenols and how many are

28:55

in there to actually give us a count.

28:58

High quality olive oil would have two,

29:00

three, four hundred, five, I think one

29:02

of the oils this quarter has a

29:04

polyphenol level of over 500. So

29:07

very, very happy about that. And

29:11

so yeah, it's

29:13

a challenge. It's a race against

29:15

that. And it's a hand in

29:17

hand of working with mother nature.

29:19

I often say that she owns

29:22

51% of the company because I

29:24

can only do the best that

29:26

she can do and my farmers

29:28

are able to extract because pretty

29:30

much anything you do from the

29:32

moment you pluck the fruit from

29:34

the tree until it's into the

29:37

consumer's hands, you can only destroy

29:40

what mother nature created. So

29:42

I focus working with the top

29:44

farmers in the world. There's a guy

29:46

called Flossole and Flossole is a big

29:48

competition and a consumer guide to olive

29:50

oil in Italy, ranking the top 500

29:52

farms. And every year

29:54

they have the Flossole top 20. You

29:57

get this beautiful blue tasting cup.

30:00

With with it's your award for the year if you're

30:02

the top 20 farm out of 400 that year and

30:06

I'm actually very lucky to

30:09

to work with Many

30:12

of the producers that I work

30:14

with flow so late top 20

30:16

flow so late top 20 So it's

30:19

like I really have over 20 years built

30:22

Relationships because really what I'm in

30:24

is the relationship business I'm in

30:26

the relationship with my farmer and

30:29

making sure that they give me the very

30:31

best fruit based on

30:34

that year because not every farm

30:37

Produce it's not consistent olive trees

30:39

produce one year. They'll produce a

30:41

hundred percent the next year 50%

30:43

the following year 100% than 50%

30:45

you know Barring

30:48

nut no crazy, you know climate change

30:50

events that are happening, which of course

30:52

we're all dealing with But

30:55

you know the olives the olive business

30:57

in general is tough.

30:59

It's tough. It's not It's

31:02

not easy. No, I imagine I think

31:04

there's so much of that with well so many food

31:06

industries We sell grass-finished beef

31:08

to direct to consumer and it's just you know

31:10

In the rest of the world beef is a

31:12

commodity and we're trying to do this on this

31:14

like artisan Scale just like with olive oil and

31:16

there's just so many ups and downs and weather

31:19

and good years and bad years And I think

31:21

you know, it's just I know my audience really

31:23

can appreciate that that hey Sometimes it's a great

31:25

year. Sometimes it's not and that is reflected in

31:27

so many things. But yeah, I respect that

31:29

so much Doing it the

31:32

right way in dealing with the ups and

31:34

downs versus just you know trying to commoditize

31:36

and and do sketchy things to make

31:38

it the same all the time because that's just not how nature

31:40

works Absolutely. So

31:42

that's that I mean so in Italy I

31:44

work with just so many wonderful farms. I

31:46

don't know why I keep talking about Italy

31:49

I work in Spain and Portugal and Chile

31:51

and Australia every year as well,

31:53

but the these

31:56

these microclimates so this year for example,

31:58

you would not want to buy

32:01

an olive oil from Tuscany. Tuscany

32:03

had a horrible season to that

32:05

whole region and people think Tuscany

32:07

oil is the best. Well,

32:09

Tuscany oil is a style of oil

32:11

now that much of the world now

32:14

produces. Tuscany oil is

32:16

a green harvest oil, typically high

32:18

in polyphenols and a super quality

32:20

oil. And that style

32:22

of oil can be produced in

32:24

other areas of the world. So

32:27

for example, when I travel, so

32:29

the Mediterranean harvest is opposite

32:31

of the Southern Hemisphere. So

32:33

that's for example why in

32:36

wintertime we're getting fresh

32:38

berries in North

32:40

Carolina and when you look on the bag

32:42

from the market, many of those are coming

32:45

from Chile and Argentina.

32:48

So the opposite harvest is happening.

32:50

So what happened here? So

32:54

when immigrants left, because the

32:56

olive tree is a Mediterranean

32:58

plant, a Mediterranean tree, when

33:02

immigrants left for the new world, they

33:04

had already heard from family members that

33:06

they had planted grapes there and they're

33:08

growing well and the climate was beautiful

33:11

and it was very much like the

33:13

Mediterranean. So they took their

33:15

neckties and the seams of their

33:18

clothes and they opened them and

33:20

they hid in the seams of

33:22

their clothes cuttings

33:25

from their family olive groves

33:27

that they then replanted

33:29

in the new world. They

33:31

needed it. Why did they need these olive trees? Well

33:34

A, it was their family heritage. It was

33:36

taking their blood, their life

33:38

blood with them to the new

33:40

world. But it was

33:43

also for religious ceremony. It

33:45

was also for health and wellness,

33:47

whether it was skin or dietary

33:49

uses. But it

33:52

was one of these products

33:54

that they took to

33:56

the new world with them. So when you think

33:58

like California, like California. like very

34:00

famous, we have the Mission Olive.

34:02

Well, that was brought by the

34:04

Spanish missionaries from Spain to California.

34:09

And in the New World, we have

34:11

olive varieties that are thriving and people

34:13

are making, and these are all varieties

34:15

that are brought from the old world

34:17

that are planted in the New World.

34:20

So we're able to get and fly

34:22

in fresh oil because

34:24

I was telling you about the antioxidants

34:26

really dropping off over the course

34:29

of about six months. So

34:31

for us, it's important to have fresh

34:34

olive oil that's full of

34:36

flavor and aroma and health benefits. Yes.

34:40

Could you speak a little bit? So you're saying that olives are not

34:42

native to the US? Like

34:45

that is, these were brought in a long

34:47

time ago. Yes, so correct. Can you speak

34:49

to like getting olive oil from

34:51

California olive farms versus the other

34:53

places in the world and kind

34:55

of how those compare? Absolutely.

34:59

I don't have an issue with California

35:01

olive oil. In fact, I like California

35:03

olive oil. I do have, to

35:06

me, it's boring. And

35:09

I say it's boring because there are

35:12

most new plantations in the

35:14

US are what are called

35:16

super intensive plantations. So what

35:19

does this super intensive planting

35:21

mean? This means we

35:23

have hedgerows of olive trees and

35:26

these hedgerows they use over the row

35:28

harvester. So they drive these machines

35:30

over the trees and it vibrates

35:32

and shakes the trees and

35:35

takes the fruit into the hopper

35:37

and is pressed immediately. So usually

35:39

the quality is pretty high of

35:43

California olive oil. It's not, I

35:45

would say it's better than buying imported olive

35:47

oil if you don't know the

35:52

maker, I shouldn't say, or where it was

35:54

from. But what I

35:56

will say about California olive oil, there

35:58

are only really. 3

36:01

olive varieties in the world one

36:03

is our bikini our bassana Coronike

36:06

that really grow in

36:08

these hedgerow style plantations,

36:11

so it's becoming Very

36:14

homogenized in California. It's boring

36:16

You're not gonna get all

36:18

the unique flavors of the

36:21

terroir and the olive varieties.

36:23

You're not supporting Necessarily

36:25

old world traditions and all of

36:27

those things like like we've talked

36:29

about in a traditional style planting

36:32

So for me, it's a little bit

36:35

boring. It's not that I in fact,

36:37

you know, I studied at UC Davis

36:39

That's where I learned to taste olive

36:41

oil. I've gone back for master milling

36:43

courses and those sort of things I'm big fans

36:46

of what? And

36:48

it's a place where people can go and taste

36:50

real fresh olive oil So they understand what it

36:53

is. All is there harvested one time a year?

36:56

Just just like apples are

36:59

harvested one time a year so

37:01

yeah, we It's not

37:03

that I have any kind of issue with

37:05

California This it bores me and I don't

37:07

really don't want to support that style of

37:10

agriculture Here in the

37:12

US and it's very low amount

37:14

most of the oil we consume in America 90

37:17

plus percent is imported

37:19

from From outside

37:21

the US and that's where more

37:24

of the slippery nests can get involved

37:26

when it again what it's imported To

37:29

the US so, you know looking

37:31

for third-party certifications on labels And

37:35

then of course learning how to taste olive oil

37:37

is key. Awesome Okay, I had a

37:40

feeling but I had not done a lot of research there

37:42

So that was kind of my hunch that it was a little

37:44

more. I'm odd denies. I like that word I think that sums

37:46

it up. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah

37:50

Of we're rolling up on time. How are you doing?

37:52

Do you have a few more minutes where we could

37:54

show no I do Yes,

37:56

I want to continue I want to talk to

37:59

people about how to know what real olive

38:01

oil tastes like we talked about it. Tuscan,

38:04

Tuscan oil before. Uh,

38:06

I remember the first time I tasted oil

38:08

in Tuscany, the, the guy that I

38:10

was tasting with Marco said, um, be

38:12

careful TJ. This is a three cough

38:14

oil. And I said, what are you being

38:16

three cough oil? And he's like, Oh,

38:18

you're going to feel the spiciness of

38:20

this oil. So, um, so I, I know

38:22

I sent you a few olive oils.

38:24

I'm happy to just, just pour one

38:26

of mine. Well, okay.

38:29

Yeah. They're cold. They're cold. I'd

38:31

have to yell the listeners and I said them embarrass.

38:33

Yeah. So they sent me this lovely box of three

38:35

oils and I use them in my

38:37

kitchen all the time. I have others in the house,

38:39

but these were specifically for the tasting for today and

38:41

I left them in our shop, which got very cold

38:43

last night because it's very cold here and now they're

38:46

solidified. So I've been holding this one in my lap

38:48

and cradling it and it's semi liquid now. So I

38:50

think we might be, oh, good. Give it a little

38:52

shout. You know, it's really funny. Um,

38:55

it gives me a chance to talk

38:57

about something called the refrigerator test. Dr.

38:59

Oz mentioned a few years ago on,

39:01

uh, on air that you

39:04

could put your olive oil in a

39:06

refrigerator and know whether it's extra virgin or

39:09

not. That is completely false. Uh, UC Davis

39:11

did a issue to paper on it saying

39:13

this is not, you know, the way you

39:15

tell quality olive oil, the tell quality olive

39:17

oil, you need two things. You need a

39:20

chemistry panel on the oil. And then the

39:22

second thing it goes to a tasting. And

39:25

we're going to talk right now about

39:27

what a tasting panel looks for. So

39:29

we have a small cup. Yes. And

39:31

I'm going to place, I think you

39:33

have this one, right? I think the,

39:36

um, curious. Yeah. Yeah. I'm curious.

39:38

Yeah. So I'm going to put, and we're

39:40

not going to taste, we're going to just

39:42

pour up about a tablespoon or less in

39:45

the bottom of my cup. And

39:47

I already smell the, the aroma of the

39:49

olive oil. It's coming out already out of

39:51

the cup. Um, so

39:53

the step we do to know, um,

39:56

we want to warm the oil. So I

39:58

placed the cup in the palm. of my

40:00

hand, this is what we do. And

40:02

professional tasters taste out of blue

40:04

glasses and we taste out of

40:07

a blue glass because color

40:10

is not an indicator of

40:12

olive oil quality. It

40:14

just has to do with how much

40:16

chlorophyll is in that particular olive variety

40:18

or the machinery that was used to

40:20

press the oil. So professional tasters, if

40:22

you see them, they might be using

40:24

a blue glass to disguise the color

40:27

today just because it's nice and easy.

40:29

I'm putting these out so

40:31

I'm to show you guys the what

40:34

I'm doing. So I'm warming the oil.

40:36

I've got my hand over top of

40:38

the oil just like this to trap

40:40

all the aromas. And as

40:43

I warm the oil, I'm going

40:45

to slit my nose and I'm

40:47

going to breathe in the oil. I'm

40:50

just like I'm just having a moment here.

40:52

What's that? Oh, good.

40:54

So you want to first of

40:56

all, smell the oil. And

40:58

when I say smell the oil, what are we looking for?

41:01

We're looking for what is called

41:03

fruitiness. And fruitiness is

41:05

not necessarily only fruit like

41:08

apples and banana and tea,

41:11

which a lot of times we see

41:13

those aromas in fresh olive oil. But

41:15

also we're looking for things like grassiness.

41:17

We're looking for like arugula or

41:19

fresh herbs. And remember, this is

41:21

only olive oil. This is not

41:24

infused oil, which is usually a

41:26

low quality product with some junk

41:28

added to make it smell like

41:30

something. Yeah. So a tasting panel

41:32

is first looking to see that

41:34

it's got fruitiness, aroma, flavor, like

41:38

nice sensations. And

41:40

then two, a panel is looking for

41:43

defects. We're not

41:45

these oils are defect free. They're

41:47

third party certified to be extra virgin

41:49

before I bring them in. And

41:53

defects happen as part of the production

41:55

process or they're too old or too

41:57

rancid or the fruit was left out.

42:00

too long before it was pressed or the

42:02

machinery was dirty. I mean a million things

42:04

can happen and olive oils

42:06

can go bad. So really the

42:08

job of a panel is partially

42:10

to or mostly to find defects

42:12

and then say if it's got

42:14

a defect it's no longer considered

42:16

extra virgin. So that's what a

42:18

tasting panel does. Now

42:21

for us we're going to go on

42:23

to identify other great things in this

42:25

oil. So when I smell the oil

42:28

and I include some tasting notes. So

42:31

for this one for example I say

42:33

this is the essence of central

42:36

Italy is captured in this

42:38

oil starring the drieta olive.

42:40

This is a single olive

42:42

variety called drieta. On

42:45

the nose this oil is redolent

42:47

of Tuscan tail and Belgian endive.

42:49

And give it a thing of

42:51

smell and see if you can

42:53

pick any of these out Jill

42:56

as we're running through this. It's

42:58

redolent of Tuscan tail and Belgian

43:00

endive. Almond, baking spices, wild mints

43:02

plus the aroma of black peppercorns

43:04

and sage. So there's

43:06

I definitely am still getting lots

43:10

of green. I smell the green

43:12

yeah lots of green for sure.

43:14

Yeah and some nuttiness and the

43:16

oil is an evolution. So next

43:18

we're going to take a small

43:20

sith and we're going to chew the

43:24

oil. So you have about a tablespoon in

43:26

the cup. We're probably going to put about

43:28

a teaspoon in our mouth. Okay.

43:32

And we're just going to chew the oil and

43:35

what you're going to notice oh

43:37

man that's so great. Good.

43:40

That's so vibrant. I feel

43:43

the polyphenols. I feel them dancing on

43:45

my tummy. You feel that numbness that's

43:47

happening. Yep. Yep. That's

43:49

the health benefits of fresh olive oil.

43:51

So I'm probably going to cough.

43:53

Yeah I'm I'm I feel yeah a little bit. Okay,

44:00

so what are we looking for? We're looking

44:02

for continuing this of the fruitiness. So we're

44:04

looking for more array of flavor

44:07

out of the oil We're

44:09

also looking for bitterness. So what is

44:11

bitterness and americans aren't really super keen

44:13

on bitterness I've already like coffee and

44:15

dark chocolate But for the most part

44:17

we don't like you know, really

44:20

dark things like arugula and kale

44:22

like we're more like You know

44:24

like butter lettuce people. I don't

44:26

know but but the benefits the

44:28

health benefits are there Um,

44:30

so this bitterness tells you it's from

44:32

green fruits So when you taste olive

44:34

oil you want it to taste bitter

44:36

and when I say bitter I mean

44:38

and this is the bold in the

44:40

trio This is the boldest like bitterness

44:42

and this bitterness goes away when you

44:44

put it on food It's not like

44:46

you're drinking it straight You would put

44:48

it in your smoothie you would put

44:50

it in your salad dressing because

44:52

store bought salad dressing is full

44:54

of terrible things Yes stabilizers Weird

44:57

fats that we don't want to consume sugars.

45:00

So this is like a you know, a

45:02

quick hack for a health hack

45:04

as well but Okay,

45:07

so bitterness we talked about and then the

45:09

last thing you want to look for is

45:11

spiciness spiciness tells you it's fresh. So Fruitiness

45:15

bitterness spiciness that's what you're looking

45:17

for in your olive oil So

45:19

if your olive oil is not giving

45:21

you those sensations Bitterness

45:24

being like like we talked

45:26

about arugula Or

45:28

over brewed green tea or walnuts. Like

45:30

that's the kind of bitterness we're talking

45:32

about and then spiciness we're talking about

45:36

yeah, like arugula like or Pepper

45:39

corns those sort of things like That

45:42

that's the those are the sensations we're looking for

45:44

so when you look at a lab report That

45:47

comes from the lab. It'll actually

45:49

score those elements It'll say

45:51

fruitiness you get a six bitterness.

45:54

You get a seven Spiciness

45:56

you get a four and that

45:58

kind of tells you the range um,

46:00

and not that one is, is, is better

46:03

than the other, but, um, also you want

46:05

to oil to be well calibrated. Uh,

46:08

it should be harmonic and, and really, um,

46:11

food loving. So I was telling

46:13

you olive oil, I think of as a sauce. So

46:15

in my, in our kitchen, uh, my

46:17

wife, Megan, who's an amazing home cook

46:20

would steam some green beans, some just

46:22

Herco there, fresh theme green beans, uh,

46:24

remove those for the steamer, a little bit

46:27

of a high quality salt, um,

46:29

and a little drizzle of olive oil. And

46:31

that's all you need. Like the

46:33

Mediterranean, uh, they really understand,

46:35

um, that, uh,

46:37

less ingredients are more, uh, it's better

46:40

for your, for your health. Uh,

46:42

but the quality of each ingredient

46:44

must be extremely high. Um,

46:46

and, and the same thing with grilled chicken.

46:49

If you want a simple grilled chicken,

46:51

you drizzle it with some olive oil and

46:53

you have this amazing, when it hits

46:55

the warm food, it just like the smell,

46:57

uh, just comes up in your kitchen.

46:59

Um, so it's, it's a, it's a really,

47:02

so I guess I'm anxious to hear,

47:04

like, do you have, like, what

47:06

are your top two, three favorite ways

47:08

that you use fresh olive oil deal?

47:10

Because like, how would you recommend like

47:12

leveraging it as a health

47:14

product in their kitchen or flavor product?

47:17

Like I'd love to hear your thoughts. Yes.

47:20

Well, first off, I, I need to ask you a question,

47:22

maybe a confession. Can I, and I get this

47:24

question a ton. Is

47:26

it okay to use this

47:28

olive oil to make like eggs, like

47:31

scrambled eggs, like to use it in cooking where

47:33

there's heat? Cause there's a lot of different opinions

47:35

on that. Yes.

47:37

Yes. And that kind of goes

47:39

back to this, these big bottlers who realized

47:41

that they, they taught Americans they needed to

47:44

have olive oil in their pantries, but then

47:46

they told them they can't cook with,

47:48

with one. Yeah. So

47:50

they need to buy a second one that's just

47:52

for cooking. So guess what they did? They doubled

47:54

their sales, but

47:57

of course, you know, um, so, uh, yeah. Yeah,

48:00

yeah, yeah hook, light and seeker

48:02

they got us But no honestly

48:04

in the Mediterranean the the extra

48:06

virgin olive oil is used for

48:08

everything and and Leandro Ravetti who's

48:10

a an olive researcher and scientist

48:12

in Australia

48:14

did a study looking at

48:17

the the

48:19

stability of olive oil when it's

48:21

being cooked with and really what the

48:24

key is you want to start with a high

48:26

quality Olive oil that's

48:28

high in anti-oxidants because what happens

48:30

as the oil is being heated

48:32

those Anti-oxidants actually protect

48:34

the oil as it's being heated.

48:37

So there is a quick tip

48:39

I fried my eggs in the morning in

48:42

a frying pan Using

48:44

olive oil and here is my tip for

48:46

that One I

48:48

don't do it over high heat. I

48:50

do medium heat I Heat

48:52

my pan first. I do not add

48:54

my olive oil. I put my my

48:56

pan on the stove. I Then

49:00

when the pan is hot I add my

49:02

olive oil and then I immediately add my

49:04

eggs So the oil

49:06

isn't sitting there heating up smoking

49:09

doing things that you don't want

49:12

beautiful olive oil to do so

49:15

That's my tip whenever you're cooking

49:18

olive oil a little bit lower temperature

49:20

and and also Heat your

49:22

pan first before you add your oil and then

49:24

add your food immediately And yes

49:26

in the Mediterranean they use it for

49:28

absolutely everything and Leandro Ravetti's research I'm

49:31

happy to share that with you. You

49:33

can put it in your podcast show

49:35

notes. It's fantastic. That would be awesome

49:37

Yeah, olive oil was actually more stable

49:39

high quality Exubergent olive oil was more

49:42

stable than even the seed oils that

49:44

claim to be like the most stable

49:47

It actually had less of these polar

49:49

compounds Were were

49:52

Created and and it

49:54

was actually more stable. So anyway, I'll definitely

49:56

share that study with you. That'd be awesome

49:58

Yeah, you can absolutely completely cooked with

50:01

olive oil. And

50:03

you'll taste it. I want you to fry

50:05

your oil, your eggs in olive oil. And

50:08

then when you sit down to the table, I want you

50:10

to, you know, taste the oil that's on

50:12

your egg, on your fried egg. And it should

50:15

taste very much like it did when you first

50:17

got it from the bottle. And

50:19

if it does, you know you've done it right. So,

50:23

yeah, my taste buds tell me that it's,

50:26

you know, holds up very well. Right. Okay.

50:29

That's how I use it because I do. I

50:31

use it with eggs every morning, like every morning.

50:33

And I do just like you say, cast iron

50:35

skillet, heat it first. I don't want the oil

50:37

smoke. I'm careful, but it just makes it taste

50:39

better. And then I just love a vinaigrette, like

50:41

our new favorite salad dressing or our old favorite

50:43

all our, just our favorite salad dressing is good

50:46

olive oil, little vinegar, salt, pepper on, you know,

50:48

on a salad. And I don't think you need

50:50

anything else. It's just so good. I've

50:53

used it to make mayonnaise. Yeah. Oh,

50:56

you did? Yeah. So, for

50:58

the restaurant, I have the small club members

51:00

as a smaller bottle. So, my club members

51:02

get three large bottles or three smaller bottles.

51:04

These are 500 ml. The

51:06

smaller club is 250 ml. And

51:09

I'll take those 250 into the

51:11

restaurant with me and I'll order extra

51:13

lemon for my water because in the

51:16

Mediterranean, they use a lot of lemon

51:18

on salad. So, lemon and squeeze of

51:20

that lemon used for my water, you

51:22

know, you ask for a plate of

51:25

lemon and squeeze that on my salad

51:27

with and drizzle a little olive oil, put

51:29

a little salt pepper on there and I'm

51:31

in heaven. And I'm not digesting all these,

51:33

you know, stabilizers and

51:36

junk that's in, you know,

51:38

processed restaurant. Oh, man. So,

51:40

yeah. So,

51:45

I love that you're using it for

51:47

cooking your eggs and I love that

51:49

you're using it for vinaigrette and just

51:51

yeah, other simple ideas. I mean, I'd

51:53

love to, you know, in the comments

51:55

of this, I

51:58

know many of your folks. from Ferry

52:00

Homestead or Old Fashioned

52:02

on Purpose, they

52:04

can share their ideas on how they're using

52:07

it. Yeah, I would love to hear that

52:09

too, because I do publish recipes in

52:11

the back of the report every

52:13

quarter on how to use the olive

52:15

oil. So these are some

52:17

of the recipes I get from like

52:19

the Italian mama's or the chef in

52:21

Chile on

52:25

what they're doing down there with olive oil

52:27

and how they're incorporating it in their cuisine

52:29

or in Australia where they use a lot

52:31

of olive oil and Asian food because

52:34

of the health benefits versus a lot

52:36

of the seed oils. They

52:40

have Miley Kwan, who's a great

52:42

Australian chef who

52:44

makes a lot of Chinese food.

52:47

She uses olive oil for everything

52:49

for our Asian salads and her

52:51

wok for her stir fries. Like

52:53

it's, you know, it just creates

52:55

more flavor, more health benefits. Yeah,

52:58

I love that. I really found this card is

53:00

super helpful because like if you're not educated in

53:02

the flavors, because I haven't been, I know it

53:04

tastes stronger, but like you said, you have all

53:06

these little notes of what you're gonna be tasting

53:08

and what to expect. And I find, I think

53:10

this is just educating my palate of what I'm

53:12

actually tasting. So this is extremely

53:14

helpful. And also your recipes too in

53:16

your letter are useful. Well, it

53:19

becomes an adventure, right? It's

53:21

like having a conversation with the farmer and

53:23

being close to your food and

53:26

really just taking a moment to

53:28

understand the product and how that's

53:30

benefiting you and the world. And,

53:33

you know, just the gratitude you

53:35

have for such a really cool

53:37

product. I try not to

53:39

get overly geeky and overly foody as my

53:41

background is a chef. And

53:44

I try not to go, most of my members

53:46

are in it these days for health. They

53:48

take it as a supplement. Like they use

53:50

it on their food, they put it in

53:52

their smoothies, they eat it and they want

53:54

it for the health benefits. But, you

53:57

know, it's a really cool project. And

54:00

people really love it. And

54:02

you know, the best thing

54:05

to do is educate your

54:07

palette. Go for your folks

54:09

only for old-fashioned on purpose.

54:11

We did set up a

54:14

URL, which is getfresh23, G-E-T,

54:16

fresh, F-R-E-S-H, two, three.com. And when people

54:18

go there, they can read all about

54:21

me in the club. You guys already

54:23

know me well at this point, you've

54:25

been in my home kitchen. But

54:28

read all about the club and our quarterly

54:30

shipping cycle and where I'm traveling to get

54:32

the oils and, you know, why I'm there

54:34

at the moment of harvest. And then I,

54:36

you know, ship it directly to your door.

54:38

So I'm the single link in the chain between

54:40

you and the farmer. So there's

54:42

no one messing with the oil. There's

54:45

no fraud that's happening. It's all about

54:47

that love and care and that meticulousness

54:49

that I have as being a chef

54:51

and managing this process and getting it

54:54

to your door and teaching

54:56

how to use it. Um, but you,

54:58

for $1, you

55:00

can get a bottle of fresh

55:02

pressed olive oil as your introduction

55:04

to the club. You have roughly

55:06

three, four weeks to cancel before

55:08

you'll get your first shipment. We

55:10

never asked for return bottles. We

55:12

never do anything like that. So

55:14

this is a no risk, no

55:16

obligation to purchase anything is the $1 to offset

55:19

shipping, and then you'll try the oil

55:21

yourself and see if this works for

55:23

you in your kitchen and you, you

55:25

can do your own at home taste,

55:27

grab a couple of espresso cups, um,

55:30

and do your own pull yours out

55:32

of the pantry and put in cup

55:34

a and test, taste it against fresh,

55:36

fresh dollar oil in cup two and

55:39

do that with your family, uh, read

55:41

the pressing report, really turn it into

55:43

this experience every quarter, learning about the

55:45

adventure and what people are doing in

55:47

country and why this olive oil so special.

55:50

Um, so it's just, it's a, it's

55:53

a fun lifestyle. Uh, it's a, it's

55:55

a lifestyle and health upgrade. It's pretty

55:57

easy, easy to try. Yeah.

55:59

And I. I was really excited while I was talking

56:01

to your team about having you on and I was like,

56:04

can he, I know he's traveling so number one, can he even

56:06

come on and then also can we offer

56:08

the dollar now because normally it's very date

56:11

dependent because it's, you're, you're actually working with

56:13

the harness. It's not just sitting in a

56:15

warehouse forever and ever. So I was super excited that

56:17

we got to offer it today. Um,

56:20

yeah, that's awesome. Yes, absolutely. I,

56:22

I, and that's the way

56:24

I build the club. Um, people try the olive

56:26

oil for a dollar. Most

56:28

of them, thank goodness, really love it. And

56:31

then they stay with me as a club member.

56:33

They tell their friends and family. And so that's

56:35

how we've grown. I started the club about 20

56:37

years ago. Um, and it's

56:39

been, you know, my passion and my

56:41

love, uh, ever since. So

56:43

again, I, I just appreciate the opportunity

56:46

to come on and talk to you

56:48

and to especially people who care about

56:50

what they're doing for their family, uh,

56:52

and for the planet. It's

56:55

really, really, I appreciate it. Yeah.

56:58

This was an absolute blast. I never got to

57:00

taste anything on a show before. So this is super

57:02

fun. Um, guys, we're going to put the link

57:04

to get fresh 23 down in the show notes. Um,

57:06

you can go check that out, read all about it.

57:09

Um, there's lots of documentation on TJ and everything he

57:11

does. So now I'm really excited to have this episode.

57:13

So the next person who emails me like, is this

57:15

real? I'm like, yes, it's real. He's a real person.

57:18

I talked to him. It's, it's legit. It's

57:20

legit. We love the oil. Uh,

57:22

we use it every day. So thank you, TJ. You are brilliant.

57:25

Thank you for what you're doing. Um, help the small farmers.

57:27

This has been a blast. Thank

57:31

you. Take care, Jill.