Category Archives: Apollo Olive Oil

Our New Harvest Oils Are Now Available

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Our new harvest oils are now available at http://www.apollooliveoil.com. We have put our best efforts into our flagship oils, and are very pleased with their quality this year. Despite the season’s difficult weather, we were able to harvest and mill the varieties that make up these two oils at their best. Our selective harvesting techniques and insistence on hand picking methods that do not bruise or damage the fruit have once again translated into wonderful oils.

The Sierra is very similar in both flavor and quality to that of last year’s production, which was the only domestic oil to be awarded the Best of Show at the prestigious LA International Olive Oil Competition. It has a rich, sparkling character with a green tomato and fresh nut flavor, along with a complex green grass aroma: it is a perfect companion for a caprese salad, and is ideal for drizzling onto pastas and bean soups.

We are also pleased by how close this year’s Mistral is to our original ideal. It has a sweet-soft buttery flavor, with pine nuts followed by tropical fruit and finishes with a nice, light pungency. We recommend the oil for seafood (it pairs beautifully with cracked crab), green salads, delicate soups, and homemade mayonnaise.

This particularly interesting year has also brought extremely high quality to our Barouni. It still has it’s usual character, full of intensity and spiciness, but with an outstanding amount of total antioxidants: 1,093 milligrams per kilo, 825 of which are oil-soluble polyphenols. These are truly outstanding results, considering that it is very difficult to find olive oils, even the high quality ones, with polyphenol levels above 350 mg/kg.

We are also happy to announce that this year, we are adding another child to the Gold Series family. We have produced a mere 350 bottles of our new Coratina oil, a typical variety of the Puglia region in southern Italy. We have been growing our Coratina trees for ten years, since we imported them as saplings. While we have known that the oil they produce is exceptional, this is the first year that we have had enough of it to be able to bottle it on its own. The Coratina is a full bodied and complex olive oil with an intense green walnut and artichoke character. It is also very rich in anti oxidants: 808 total, with 548 polyphenols. The limited production will only be available on our website.

Enjoy!

Harvest 2010

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We have been very busy with our harvest the last two months. The crop is wonderful this year due to the mild Spring, the warm Summer and the cool Fall. Below are some of our harvest pictures. We wish you Happy Holidays and we thank you for all your support.

We recently were awarded a special distinction. Marco Oreggia, one of Italy’s premier olive oil tasters, awarded our oil a score of 94 which tied us for position 28 out of 3000 oils tasted from all over the world, Europe and Italy. He also chose us in his Best 20 olive oil producers out of over 1500 producers.

The gorgeous site of fresh hand-picked olives

The olives begin their journey

The olives make their way to the hammermill to be crushed

After being crushed the olive paste enters the malaxers to be prepared for the decanter

The beautiful fresh oil emerges from the decanter

2010 LA County International Olive Oil Competition

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The 2010 LA County International Olive Oil Competition just posted the results from their prestigious tasting event. Apollo Olive Oil’s Sierra was the only domestic oil to win a Best of Show medal in the non-flavored category. Overall all three of our oils won Gold Medals at the LA County competition. So far this year we have won 8 golds, a silver, two best of class, and two best of shows. We won best US organic oil in the Biol, Italy competition and world famous food critic, David Rosengarten, chose the Barouni as his favorite oil. So needless to say we are very pleased with our oils this year and we hope you enjoy them.

Take a Tour of Apollo Olive Oil

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Below is a link to a 4 minute brief glimpse into how Apollo Olive Oil is made. You will see some of our orchards, how the olives enter the mill, the unique under vacuum milling process and the fresh oil emerging from the decanter which we taste immediately to ensure high quality. We are very proud of our little mill and the award winning olive oil it produces, it is a labor of love.

Watch the video (11 mb)

End of Harvest Paella!

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We finished the hard but rewarding work of harvest in mid-December. The harvest went very smoothly and the resulting oils were excellent. After blending and bottling we should have the new oils available in mid to late March. To celebrate the occasion our assistant miller and olive farmer Juan Jose made his family’s traditional paella. What a treat! Gianni, Diana and their son Umberto joined Steve and his wife along with Juan and Eve at Steve’s home on a beautiful December Saturday. There was plenty of beer and wine flowing as we all gathered around the table and watched Juan Jo prepare his masterpiece.

It starts with a special large flat pan hooked directly to the propane. You first brown the meat (duck, chicken, turkey, and pork) in an excellent extra virgin olive oil, of course. Then move it to the side and add fresh green beans and assorted white beans. Then move that to the side and add organic tomatoes. Quite a colorful dish. Then add water and rice. This is the tricky part, you need to add the correct ratio of rice vs. water. You then let this simmer for around 18 minutes. During the simmering you can add fresh artichoke, just remove the prickly leaves.

And now the kicker, top with fresh rosemary from the garden as it simmers.

After the rice is done and the water evaporated bring the whole pan to the table. Each person then dips his fork into the delicious mixture and proceeds directly to his own mouth with no plates intervening. This is true family style dining at its best. At this point you might be wondering, “Hey where are all the measurements and ingredient lists.” Well this is how family recipes are cooked – by feel. And we all felt very good with a perfect end to a perfect harvest.