OCTOBER 27TH, 2008
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It’s almost a dirty word around here, and it’s certainly a dirty substance: oil.
Who knew, though, that olive oil could be as political as petroleum? Last year, the Italian olive oil industry was slammed with impurity charges that challenged their fruits; being a big fan of dirt myself (real and gossip), I was intrigued. What was it about olive trees and their delicate fruit that could get so complicated in the pressing process?
As it turns out, the scandal behind olive oil was not unlike the scandals that pop up in all the worlds I love, from the NYC Greenmarkets to the bicycle-racing circuit–the question of supplements. In biking, it’s doping; at the Greenmarket, it’s the idea that a dairy farmer can’t process cheese using someone else’s milk, and then sell it under their local dairy’s label. Similarly, all of one’s apples are supposed to come from one’s property, not bought and resold from another orchard. The latest debate, as land prices get more expensive in Upstate New York, is whether a farmer can sell their own produce plus fruit from a rented orchard–as it stands, Greenmarket is proposing at least 5 acres must be owned, which several cash-deficient farmers are protesting (as it’s much cheaper, while involving the same kind and amount of work, to rent versus to purchase the land on which the trees are growing).
The debate clouding Italian oil was not dissimilar–in their case, oil was being pressed from various sources, yet labeled as though purely sourced. How pleased was I, then, that last week one of Kira’s best customers, brought us each a little jar of his own “home-grown”–olive oil pressed here in New York from fruits grown on the property his sisters own back in Italy. I’ve never been able to afford olive oil worth mentioning before, but, like any other product involved in the delicate chemistry of cooking, of course, this stuff blew my usual commercial oil out of the water (if they could mix, that is). It’s light, fruity, and limpid on the tongue, with a pellucidity that affords almost no aftertaste. I was so stoked! Obviously the next question is: what can I cook with it?!