Last week, Chaffin Family Orchards sponsored a giveaway of their award-winning olive oil from Northern California – it’s also the oil I use exclusively at home. The winner has been posted (congratulations Rebekah!), but you still can order Chaffin Family Orchard’s olive oil and get free shipping to your door or post office box.
adulteration of olive oil
As we discussed last week, the adulteration of olive oil is a serious issue. Less scrupulous middle-men will often cut good olive oil, which is rather expensive to produce, with less expensive nut, seed and vegetable oils before they land on the shelves of your grocery store.
So it’s critical to know your source.
about chaffin and their olive oil
Chaffin Family Orchards out of Oroville, California is a 5th-generation diversified family farm practicing sustainable, biodynamic techniques. In addition to producing olives and olive oil, Chaffin also produces fruit and meat with each aspect of the farm assisting in the holistic health of every other.
Their olive oil is mild and varies as the season progresses with the oil of the early pressing giving a bit of spiciness and higher antioxidant count, while the oil from the late pressing is mild and smooth. It also varies from year to year in the away all seasonal foods should. Both the early and late pressed oils have won gold medals at the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition – one of the most prestigious awards any olive oil can receive.
where to find chaffin’s oil (and how to get free shipping)
You can purchase Chaffin’s award-winning olive oil straight from them, like I do. They offer FREE SHIPPING by USPS on all their olive oils.
Usually, upon ordering, Chaffin’s oil arrives in just a few days. I love to serve it as a base in my mayonnaise, allioli, with tomatoes provencale or even in olive oil ice cream.
I put 16oz. of Chaffin olive oil in the fridge to see if it would become solid, like true olive oil does. The problem is it didn’t. The only reason I could think of is because it was almost a year old. Is it possible the oil had broken down?
Judith—
Don’t know if this helps, but in doing some brief research I found this on Whole Foods’s website:
“Due to the many factors involved (including ripeness of the olives when harvested, amount of time in refrigeration, and the temperature of the refrigerator), experts in the field confirm that refrigeration is not an accurate way of determining the quality of olive oil. Different oils, regardless of purity, respond differently.”
I don’t know how accurate this is, but it could account for why the oil you refrigerated didn’t become solid. However, it could certainly be the age of the oil as well.