THE NIBBLE Gourmet News & Views
Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods
Read all of our content on TheNibble.com, the online magazine about specialty food.
Archive for Oil/Vinegar/Dressing
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May 30, 2008 at 8:35 am
· Filed under Vegetables, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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 Make a sweet spring salad from antioxidant- and fiber-rich spinach.
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Here’s a variation on a spinach salad that’s especially spring-like: Take a bag (10 ounces) of baby spinach, 2 cups of sugar snap peas or pea pods and 2 cups of sliced strawberries. Cut half a medium red onion or a sweet Vidalia onion into thin slices. Add a 1/2 cup of sliced unsalted almonds, raw or toasted. Toss with a honey vinaigrette: 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of vinegar (balsamic, wine or cider) and 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of honey, depending on how sweet you like it. If you have lavender honey, it’s a home run! Head over to THE NIBBLE’s Vegetables & Salad section for more ideas. And for additional dressing recipes and reviews, see our Oils, Vinegars & Salad Dressings section. |
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March 10, 2008 at 7:22 am
· Filed under Recipes, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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Add a splash of raspberry flavor to your vinaigrette. |
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Looking to add a little pizazz to your everyday salad dressing? Try a raspberry vinaigrette—two parts raspberry vinegar, three parts olive oil. The sweet raspberry fruit shines through, as does its ruby color. While raspberry vinegars are available for as little as $3.50 a bottle—they can be made less expensively with raspberry flavoring—we splurge on the opulent French vinegar of J. Leblanc, made from the juice of fresh raspberries blended into white wine vinegar, then aged in oak barrels. It also makes a splendid addition to fish sauces, marinades and luncheon salads—especially with sliced duck or chicken. It adds magic when you substitute it for cider vinegar, for example, in cole slaw, potato salad and gazpacho. It can be drizzled on fruit, cheese, bread, ice cream, cheesecake…in fact, you can mix a spoonful into apple juice, iced tea, lemonade and other beverages. It also makes a great gift for your favorite cook or foodie. If you can’t find the brand locally, it is sold on Amazon. Find more of our favorite vinegars in the Oiis & Vinegars Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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February 25, 2008 at 12:03 pm
· Filed under Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Trends
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| We’ve tasted hundreds of olive oils, and know that among the basic styles—mild, buttery, herbal, fruity, peppery, earthy—we like herbal and fruity flavors, but tend to avoid those cough-inducing peppery styles. Others may go straight for the pepper. But when you’re staring down a shelf of two dozen or more olive oils, you haven’t a clue as to which tastes like what. And you probably don’t have THE NIBBLE’s review of 90+ extra virgin olive oils with you. So, plunk down $15 or so, and hope for the best. But if you live in St. Louis, or other towns where olive oil tasting bars are popping up, you actually can try before you buy. Extra Virgin, an olive oil boutique that opened in October 2007, stocks 25 to 30 oils from Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Chile, Australia and the United States. |
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Now, you can try before you buy, and select the olive oil that pleases your particular palate. |
The oils range from light, fruity and delicate to pungent—and you can taste each one of them to decide your personal style, pumping an amount into a paper cup or plastic spoon (23 grams, or two tablespoons daily, may reduce the risk of coronary disease…and some of these oils are so delicious, you can drink them from a spoon like a treat if you don’t like to enjoy them on salad, pasta or vegetables). The store is the second career of a retired pathologist with an undergraduate degree in nutrition and food science, who understands the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil. She also saw, while taking an olive oil sensory evaluation course at the University of California-Davis, how much different olive oils can influence dishes, from boiled potatoes and white beans to chicken and beef. Located in Clayton, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, the store also features bulk olives from Spain, Italy, Greece and France, related specialty foods (vinegars, tapenades, pasta sauces) and gifts with olive patterns and themes (aprons, potholders, candles). If you pass by Extra Virgin or any other olive oil boutique, do stop in—not only for your own edification, but to help these wonderful ventures thrive. Give gift certificates as as gifts. Don’t forget to check out Extra Virgin’s website. E-commerce isn’t up yet, but there are recipes for granola and lemon banana bread that use EVOO. (If you haven’t had rustic cakes made with olive oil, in the Italian and Greek fashion, they’re wonderful—especially with fresh herbs like basil, thyme or rosemary added to the batter.)
- See the different flavors of olive oil on TheNibble.com.
- See how the flavors and aromas come together with this olive oil wheel.
- Clarify specific terms in our olive oil glossary.
- Read about our favorite olive oils in the Oil & Vinegar Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.
- Check out our mega-review of 90 extra virgin olive oils. |
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January 28, 2008 at 10:56 am
· Filed under Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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Don’t judge an oil by its color. Different varieties of olive produce different colors of oil. |
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Don’t judge an olive oil by its color. Many of us have been led to believe that the darker and greener an olive oil is, the better the quality. It’s not true: The dark green color is just a characteristic of some cultivars (varieties) of olives. Other top olive cultivars yield lighter-colored, and equally delicious, oils. Plus, knowing how people are attracted to the dark green oils, some producers add color to lesser oils (shocking, but true). Color is so unimportant that in judging competitions, oils are drunk from blue glasses to mask the color! Now that you know the “color trick” doesn’t work, how can you find the best oils? Try to research brands before buying, and buy at specialty stores where you can taste the oils. There’s plenty of information about olive oil, and reviews of 100 brands, in the Oil & Vinegar Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. You can have hours of fun with:
- Our Olive Oil Glossary
- Understanding the Flavors & Aromas Of Olive Oil |
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January 27, 2008 at 9:28 am
· Filed under Salts/Seasonings, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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| To enjoy some heavenly truffle flavor without breaking the bank, black or white truffle paste can be spread like a condiment on canapés, roasted meat and poultry. Stir a spoonful into risottos and sauces—it works wonders. We toss angel hair pasta with butter and truffle paste (you can use truffle butter to achieve the same effect). The tube or jar has a shelf life of a year and lasts about a week once opened. It’s a wonderful little luxury and a great birthday gift for your favorite foodie. If there’s any left, spread it onto your morning toast.
- Try a tube. A tiny tube adds a lot of flavor.
- Read about our favorite, addictive truffle butter.
- Learn more about truffles in our exciting Truffle Glossary.
- Go truffle crazy with this wonderful truffled caviar (made with truffle oil). |
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The most precious of the fungus among us: The black Périgord truffle and the white Alba truffle. Read more about them in our Truffle Glossary. |
Any or all make sexy Valentine’s Day dishes. Add some truffle cheese to the cheese plate, while you’re at it.
What about truffle oil? Caveat emptor. One day, we hope to have enough money to buy them all and do a big review in THE NIBBLE. Here’s a quick introduction. There are two types of truffle oil. The better kind is produced by infusing a high-quality oil, such as extra virgin olive oil, with the flavor from truffles. Truffle bits are soaked in the oil until it absorbs flavor and aroma. However, the vast majority of truffle oil is a chemical infusion that approximates the aroma and flavor of truffles. Some companies do it better than others. The oil can be used to add truffle flavor to a variety of foods; however, it must be sprayed or dribbled on, since heating the oil causes the flavor and aroma to dissipate. Similarly, once the bottle is opened, the flavor and oil will fade quickly. So only buy small bottles and don’t save the oil for special occasions once you open it—go truffle crazy and spray it on everything from salads to toast. Truffle oil on vegetables is terrific, and truffled mashed potatoes, celestial (substitute the oil for some of the butter). |
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January 15, 2008 at 9:36 am
· Filed under Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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Don’t wait for spring cleaning: January is a good month to go through cupboards for about-to-expire foods and impulse purchases you never got around to eating. Also check your cooking oils: They go rancid. If they don’t pass the sniff test (oil that has turned smells musty and old), toss them. If you don’t trust your nose, take a small taste). When you replace the oils, use a wine preservative spray to prolong the life of the more expensive ones. Click here for a preservative spray. And the best tip of all: Don’t buy more oil than you can reasonably use within 6 months.
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January 6, 2008 at 11:05 am
· Filed under Diet Nibbles, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing, Tip Of The Day
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There are stainless-steel misters and acrylic or glass misters like this one, that enable you to see your oil or vinaigrette. |
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Even big companies are jumping on the bandwagon now, with prepackaged spray dressings. But we have been spraying olive oil and vinaigrettes from non-aerosol, refillable spray bottles for years before. The idea was born when we wanted a way to get more coverage of our greens by using less dressing, without hand-tossing the salad to cover every leaf (in other words, get more dressing flavor by using less dressing, with fewer calories). We started by buying empty plastic cosmetics spray bottles to fill and spritz, but the industry has caught up and now makes “misters,” shown in the photo at the left. You can buy high-tech looking, stainless versions, or more cruet-style versions that let you see your oil or vinaigrette. There are also pocket-size versions that you can carry with you. |
| Add a mister to your table to cut down on dressing calories. Alas, mayonnaise-based dressings are too heavy to fit through the spray, although you can experiment with making creamy vinaigrettes. Find more diet ideas in the Diet Nibbles Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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January 2, 2008 at 10:54 am
· Filed under Top Pick Of The Week, Kosher Nibbles, NutriNibbles, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing
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| Several months ago, we wrote about the tomato sauces and soups of Lucini Italia, a company that imports top-quality, handcrafted Italian specialty foods. The products include an extra virgin olive oil and a limited-edition organic extra virgin olive oil, plus a 10-year-old balsamic vinegar and a Pinot Grigio white wine vinegar. Since January is “Healthy Food Month” at THE NIBBLE, we couldn’t wait to recommend the heart-healthy olive oils and the vibrant, yet smooth and mellow, vinegars. The rich, flavorful regular oil has been a favorite at THE NIBBLE offices for many months now. It’s a classic Tuscan blend that is delightfully fruity, bursting with a green apple freshness and sporting only the faintest hint of the pepper for which so many Tuscan oils are known (and which create that infamous back-of-the-throat cough when you try to taste them). The oils are also certified kosher. Take the money from whatever holiday gifts you returned and buy yourself the Lucini gift set—bottles of both vinegars plus the regular EVOO. When they arrive, enjoy a spoonful of each—straight—and rollick in the delectable aromas and flavors. Read the full review in THE NIBBLE online magazine, and see more of our favorites in our Oil & Vinegar Section. |
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 Lucini Italia organic olive oil (foreground) and regular olive oil are kosher-certified. |
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December 26, 2007 at 4:28 pm
· Filed under Gourmet News, NutriNibbles, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing
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Healthy olive oil is a monounsaturated fat, rich in oleic acid. Photo by Clare Freierman.
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Global olive oil consumption is at an all-time high: 2.9 million tonnes (3.2 million U.S. short tons) in 2006/7 compared with 1.6 million tonnes in 1990/91, according to the World Olive Oil Council. Olive oil, which has been produced for thousands of years, achieved a boost in the 1990s, with medical studies on the “French Paradox”—the apparent contradiction between the relatively rich diet enjoyed by the French (cheese, cream sauces, foie gras) and their lower percentage of cases of cardiovascular problems, compared with other northern Europeans Americans. Researchers named a high intake of fruits and vegetables, wine and olive oil, a monounsaturated fat rich in oleic acid. Scientific studies on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet reinforced the heart-healthy benefits of olive oil. Its use spread worldwide, often replacing butter. Olive plantations multiplied, and places as far afield as Australia became major olive oil producers. Olive oil replaced butter on many American tables and at restaurants, engendering a product category called “bread dippers”—seasoned oils. |
The FDA allows producers of olive oil to place the following health claim on product labels:
- Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil. To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day.
Saturated fats include butter, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, ghee, lard, palm kernel oil, suet and tallow. With the new year just days away, its easy to convert some of that delicous but cholesterol-filled butter to olive oil. Olive oils vary widely in flavor and quality. See the Oil & Vinegar Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine to learn about the tastiest. |
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December 14, 2007 at 9:17 am
· Filed under NutriNibbles, Oil/Vinegar/Dressing
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| What do you do when you’re a New York opera singer and your grandparents in Calabria, Italy make beautiful, organic-certified olive oil from the ancestral olive groves? You start The New York Olive Oil Co-Op and distribute the freshly-pressed olive oil to local enthusiasts who sign up for regular deliveries. Of course, it can be purchased by the single bottle or tin as well. Made from the Leccino olive, which is used to make the popular Tuscan olive oils, in this oil from the boot of Italy, grown the strip of coastline, the oil has the perfect gentle touch of pepper—not the cough-inducing quality of many Tuscan oils. We love the green olive aroma, moderate, fruity taste and rich, buttery texture. If you’re still looking for gifts for your gourmet friends, this could be it! It’s a delicious oil for heart-healthy people to drink from the spoon: 22 grams (.78 ounce) of EVOO per day may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Read our full review, and learn all about olive oil in the Oil & Vinegar Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine. |
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 So good, you can drink it from the spoon. |
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