Olive oil comes to us straight out of Antiquity and probably before. Cultivated by the ancient Greeks and Romans, who planted olive groves in all of their colonies, olive oil was not only consumed by the ancients, but used as a source of energy to light lamps and for rituals to the divinities in temples.
Extra virgin olive oil is on the agenda at Oliviers & Co, the French house devoted to scouring out the finest olive oils in France and Italy. It has just brought out Affiorato from Sicily where the grapes were harvested on October 10th, 2018 at the domain of the Gerace family in Sicily. The family has been producing Sicilian olive oil of exceptional quality for four generations now and the October harvest, hand gathered, was pressed 12 hours after the olive gathering. Affiorato, which means to emerge in Italian, has a fresh taste, but a very powerful one as well and is excellent for the preparation of carpaccio of meat or fish, particularly sea scallops. It is of a green that is unique in color and is the product of an early harvest and is made entirely with the Nocellara del Belice olive variety grown in the region of Partanna, Trapani, Sicily. The Nocellara del Belice is an olive cultivar from the southwestern area of Sicily and is grown for both the table and for making oil and obtained its Designation of Origin (DOP) Valle del Belice in 1998.

Oliviers & Co
Paris
28 rue de Buci 6th arrondissement

+33 (0)1 44 07 15 43

New York
249 Bleeker Street, Greenwich Village
+1 212 973-1472
http://www.oliviers-co.com

You might want to visit an olive museum like the one in the beautiful French town of Nyons, a sun-drenched spot blessed with a Mediterranean climate and known for its fine olives and olive oil.
Olive Museum
Musée de l’Olivier
Place Olivier-de-Serres
26110 Nyons,France
33 (0) 4 75 26 12 12

©The Gourmet Gazette