olive oil – Sheryl Kirby

I’ve swiped this great idea from Pip at Meet Me at Mike’s. It’s a fun way to look at what’s interesting and important and it’s very grounding to take the time to stop and think about my answers based on the past month.

Taking stock:

Making: knitting rainbow scarves for wee nieces’ Christmas presents
Cooking: easing into summer salads and trying to make do with the not-exactly-right ingredients because a trip across town for one specialty item seems frivolous — but is it still a Nicoise salad with a different type of olive?
Sipping: Hidden Temple Gin with Elderflower tonic; tastes like candied flowers and goes down way too fast
Reading: I’ve still got all the Zola to read but my author of the summer (in which I read through the entirety of their available work) for 2020 is E.M. Forster
Continue reading “Taking Stock – May 2020”

When I think of olive oil, like most people, the first thing that comes to mind is Spain or Italy, two regions well-known for producing some of the world’s best olive oils. But at a recent event featuring 22 olive oils from Argentina, it was clear that this country should also be considered a player to watch in the industry.

Like wine, olive oil takes on characteristics of its terroir, and like wine, olive oil ranges in quality and flavour. As Argentina is such a geographically diverse country – ranging from mountainous regions to a long coastline – influences on flavour (as with wine) are great.

Although olive trees arrived in the new world with the Spanish conquest, olive oil production in Argentina is a relatively recent industry – prior to the 1990s, the oil was thought to not be of very good quality and was often used in blended table oils. But by 2003, tens of thousands of hectares of olive trees had been planted, many on modern plantations with drip irrigation, and output has increased to around 100,000 pounds per year.

Continue reading “Green Gold”