End of Year 2017 Favorites

Olive Oil

At one point, I started keeping track of how much of my food budget went for olive oil, and realized I was spending a lot of money for empty glass bottles that I threw away.  

About the same time scandals were emerging about imported oils from Europe that weren’t olive oil at all, but cheap vegetable oil with a little beta carotene added for color and flavor.  So I stopped buying olive oil at the big-box stores.

At a street fair in Charleston, SC there was a booth representing a California olive oil producer.  I  tasted the oil and found it excellent.  They packaged their oil in gallon jugs and 2.5 gallon boxes.   Eventually I figured out that the 2.5 gallon box was perfect for a year of cooking, and the saving was impressive by buying a large quantity at a time in only one container, even with the shipping charges.  

The boxed olive oil is a lot like boxed wine in the packaging, with no outside air getting into the plastic bag inside the box, so it stays fresh longer.  It is stored in my cool basement, and I have a bottle with a spout next to my cooktop.  It’s fun to go down to the basement to refill the bottle, almost like a restaurant supply cabinet.
​
No tiny bottles to recycle, high-quality oil at an everyday price—per ounce, that is.  After a few years of purchasing and using oilive oil in this way, there has been no spoilage or rancidity.