To tin or not to tin...why we like olive oil tins

Why tins? Huh? Why do you sell olive oil in tins? Well, since this a blog we will give you the long answer with some pictures and a little history. If you want the quick answer, scroll to the bottom of the post!

 

 

 

Olive oil can have a shelf life anywhere from a few months to 2 years. In large part that depends on if it is filtered or not. Generally filtered product is going to last longer. Then the type of filtration can play a role as well. However, the main source of extended shelf life is limiting exposure to light, heat, and oxygen. As soon as you crack open a bottle olive oil is subject to oxidation. Oxidation can lead to rancidity. Tins obviously take care of the light issue. We also like the cap as well. Caps on tins are pushed back into the tin and sealed off. I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but common sense tells me it is better than its plastic or metal cap counterpart. One drawback to tins that I have heard is that metal is a better catalyst for heat, which is very bad for olive oil. I do not put much stock into that. The heat issue is more about where you store your olive oil. It needs to stay away from your stove. Put it a cool place. The refrigerator wont ruin it, but it makes it hard to work with.

Are you too good for traditional bottles or tins? Get super fancy or super enthusiast and store you olive oil in a stainless steel container called a fusti. If you have ever been in a store selling bulk olive oil you have seen one of these. They are far and away the best way to store oil but not very practical for the general consumer. They are also fairly expensive. However, they do look cool.

 

Stainless Steel Fusti

 

If you want to be super hipster you could go retro with an amphora. When I mean retro, I mean like 1000’s of years retro.  Amphora were used to carry all kinds of goods. Since they were so cheap they used to break them after shipping goods. In Rome there is a “mountain” that is 150 ft high and 1km around of broken amphora that dates back to the first century BC. I can see it now people walking down the street with a giant ceramic amphora strapped to their back…Well maybe not.

Ancient Amphora

 

Monte Testaccio 

So, in summary. Light is bad, oxygen is bad, heat is bad. We like tins because they let no light in, have a good cap/pourer, and they ship well. When purchasing olive oil it behooves you to buy a dark bottle. We want to store that bottle in a place no warmer than room temp, with as little exposure to light. We want to make sure the cap is on tight and if possible we can get our tin on...we want to do that!

It's Here....

First shipment of the 2012 harvest is here!!!!! Look for a store launch this week to get yours!!!!

San Damiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I also picked up this olive oil (San Damiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil) at Central Market on the same trip I picked up the previous review. I found this on a discount shelf. This was an interesting oil. The bottling struck me as odd. It was a clear bottle and had a cork as a top. A first from anything else I have seen. All of the bottles had a slight amount of sediment at the bottom of them. I'm not sure if the clear bottle had something to do with that. I do know that a clear bottle is not advisable for any olive oil. but knowing we would consume it fast and the fact that it was cheap I picked it up. For those who don't know, light is olive oil's worst enemy next to heat. So I am not sure why the producer chose this bottle.

Aside from the ill advised bottle and curious sediment, San Damiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil had a nice buttery taste. It had the slight burn of a good extra virgin olive oil. It was deviod of many of the hints of grass, artichoke, and other notes you get out of other olive oils from the region. By the way San Damiano is made from Taggiasaca olives and is milled in Liguria Italy. This was a nice oil if you are looking for something that is not really complex to cook with. Far from lampante but also far from the high quality stuff on the market today.

Trampetti

It's been a while since we posted a review. We are still hard at work and on pace for our 2013 launch. A few weeks ago we went to our local central market (I find myself now going directly to the olive oil section in every grocery store) and bought this bottle. It is Trampetti Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is from the Umbria region of Northern Italy and is milled from Moriaolo olives. Trampetti is picked, milled, and bottled in one day. As you will notice the bottle is wrapped in foil. This is the producers attempt to protect the oil against harmful light that causes olive oil to spoil. It also makes for a nice bottle, which my wife likes!

In terms of taste we really enjoy this oil for a number of reasons. The first is that it is a complex oil that has good grassy notes and a peppery finish, which is a characteristic we prefer. It also has hints of artichoke in it. I did read online that some notice apple hints in it, however we did not get that. I think the thing we enjoy most about Trampetti is that it is very smooth and well balanced.Some very vibrant tasting oils can be over powering. So when Sarah and I have had our fix of really strong olive oil Trampetti is a nice go to for complex flavor but a smoother finish. One of the supplier we are looking at carries this oil and we hope to be able to add it to the line up in the future.

Texas Olive Ranch

On the way to Houston this weekend Sarah and I made our usual stop at Cooper Farms. This place has awesome peaches and peach products. I highly recommend stopping if you are on I-45 between Dallas and Houston. This time we found a new olive oil to test. We got a bottle of Texas Olive Ranch Arbequina variety. Texas Olive ranch is located south of Carrizo Springs in South TX. Here is a little info about their oil from their site:

"Texas Olive Ranch 100% Pure Texas Extra Virgin Olive Oil is pressed from arbequina variety olives grown at our ranch. The arbequina variety was developed in Spain and is especially suitable for growing in the sandy loam soil of the Middle Rio Grande Valley, where the climate is very similar to southern Spain. In addition to the arbequina variety, we grow two other varieties: arbosana, also Spanish in origin; and a Greek variety, koroneiki."

The oil is semi robust with some grassy notes. It has a nice smooth finish to it and the flavor profile is good, but not terribly complex. It also has that slight burn of the throat that you look for in a quality olive oil. Overall a good straightforward olive oil. Here is a link to their site.

http://texasoliveranch.com/index.html

Potential new product and Olive Oil News

While working on FDA importing info and researching some other things I came across this little bit of news. Hopefully more government regulation does not kill us before we get off the ground...It wont but it sure could make things much harder.

http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-business/olive-oil-importers-lobby-congress-over-marketing-orde/27895

On another note we are now planning to visit a co-op in Canino when we make our trip in December. Should be getting some samples to test soon. We will post reviews when we do.

http://www.oliodopcanino.com/

Colli Etruschi

Last week Sarah picked up a great bottle of olive oil in St. Louis. She also picked up some black truffle sea salt. The oil is Colli Etruschi from Lazio. It has a rich aroma and a robust taste with some fruity notes. We had it straight up and we also added it to some fresh ricotta, lemon zest, and black truffle sea salt. A nice way to relax at home after a 14 hour drive home from Gulf Shores!