Food Review - Calabretto Apulia Extra Virgin Olive Oil

My blog has recently been chosen by Emilia Delizia to host the review of some Italian products and today I would like to share with you my experience with Calabretto Apulia Extra virgin olive oil, produced by “Azienda Agricola Calabretto” (more details about the producer and this oil are available on Sfoodle website in the page dedicated to this product).

Let’s start with the appearance because, I must admit, this is often a first indicator of the quality level you could expect and the uses you can make of an oil: based on my experience a too light-coloured or “excessively fluid” oil is probably not going to be rich enough for a good salad, bread dipping or any usage where you want to emphasize the taste of the raw oil and the Calabretto Apulia EVOO showed the nice golden-green colour and silky texture I would expect from a good Italian oil.

After assuring that the appearance met my expectations it was time to try the oil in some of my recipes, but not before trying it for a quick taste with some bread dipping (the professional oil taster would probably be horrified by such a practice as the best way is tasting it without nothing) but I really wanted to enjoy it in a way I’ve always loved since I was a child: a nice piece of ciabatta bread dipped in olive oil. The taste was great: a rich olive flavour without any excessive bitterness and that cough-inspiring sensation some strong oils can sometime leave in your throat.

So, after this additional approval, I couldn’t wait anymore before trying it in some of my recipes and I then start cooking as usual.

I first tried it on 2 different Italian focaccia recipes: a garlic and lavender focaccia (recipe available here) and more traditional plain small “focaccine” (see image at the beginning of the post).  In these recipes the oil was cooked and I can now say that it performed really well on the focaccia, confirming the first tasting experience. 

I then decided to try the oil in two different recipes that would allow me to fully appreciate the raw oil mixing it with different tastes trying to intensify the tasting experience: a classic vegetable oil dip (“pinzimonio”) and kiwi and brie appetizer with an oil, honey and chilli peppers emulsion (see pictures).

The oil blended wonderfully in the emulsion with honey and pepper, with its rich but not too strong flavour gently supporting the stronger chillies taste, slightly contrasted by the sweetness of the honey.

The “pinzimonio” experience was similar to the bread dip one, with the difference that the vegetable didn’t absorb the oil and provided a crunchy support for the oil taste, the real protagonist of this dish.