OLIVE OIL – HOW DO WE LOVE THEE

Okay, we’re just going to say it: we love olive oil.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.   And we use, try and buy all different kinds.  We’re purists, but not snobs.  We have bottles that cost more than we’ll admit to (husbands look away now), and others that come from Trader Joe’s that are very affordable and delicious.  And we love them all.  

We’re always looking for new olive oils to sample and there’s a seemingly inexhaustible supply of different choices.  Italian, Spanish, French, Greek, Tunisian, Californian . . . what a change from when we were growing up: the choices were limited to “Extra Virgin” from Italy, or NOT.  In our endless quest for something new to try and since our ancestors emigrated to the United States from Calabria, we’ve spent some time searching for olive oils from that region and stumbled upon a website for “Tre Olive” which allows you to “adopt” an olive tree for a year.   Tre Olive is a company run by three cousins living in the US but who are committed to developing the family business in Calabria.  Once you adopt a tree, they send you the tree’s olive oil production from that year.  Our initial thoughts: “Genius!”  “Who knew this was possible?”  “We have to write about this!!”

The naysayers in our midst were dubious.  “What if it’s a sham, they said, or a ponzi scheme (seriously ??) or worse, what if there’s no oil?”  “What if it’s no good?”

Party poopers.   We won’t be jumping for joy at their next idea.

Ever the optimists, we rushed to send in our payment of $110 and received a beautiful certificate as our “adoption papers” which we’ve photographed and feature prominently in this post.  We are proud parents, and may actually pay our tree a visit.   We promise to send photos.

In the meantime, while we wait for our harvest, we’re sharing a recipe that will put some of that olive oil in your (and our) pantry to good use.  Go forth and bake.