Flavors of Lonato Extra Virgin Organic Classic Olive Oil Recommended by Whom You Know
Great flavors come from great products. This is especially true for olive oil. You must not settle for anything less than the best. A truly great olive oil will wow your palate with amazing flavors and unique subtleties. This is exactly the case with Flavors of Lonato's Extra Virgin Organic Classic Olive Oil. Just dip a slice of soft and crusty bread into a pool of this oil and you will know exactly what I mean. It is processed with the pit for a full flavor that you will absolutely love!
Of course, olive oil is also the perfect base to any pasta sauce or dressing. With Gocce di Casaliva 100% Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil I am making what my mother-in-law calls Pasta e Ceci, or Pasta with Chickpeas. I start with a tablespoon of my bright golden oil as a base in my frying pan. I then add some chopped onions, chopped garlic, and chopped pancetta. I stir it up until both the onions and pancetta are slightly browned. I then add a can of drained chickpeas and a pinch of salt and pepper. In a separate pot, I am boiling some ditalini pasta (small half-penne). Once the chickpeas heat up, I add a cup of chicken broth and a half-cup of chopped tomatoes. When my pasta is finished, I drain it and add it to the pan. After stirring it together for a minute, it’s done! For a finale, after my Pasta e Ceci is in a bowl, I drizzle some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, straight from the bottle, over the top for a fresh, Tuscan countryside feel! Calvino Olive Oil over my hot bowl of pasta brings me straight back to my favorite osteria outside Siena!
If you’re looking for a delicious and unique olive oil for cooking or dipping, this Extra Virgin Organic Classic olive oil is a great selection. For starters, it’s organic – if you use olive oil as often as I do, that’s important! It’s also unique because it has a little hint of spice; not overpowering, but just enough to lend an interesting flavor to your dishes. I used it help season and grill chicken drumsticks and mixed it into the accompanying orzo pasta as well. The result was a delicious dish, with the perfect highlight of flavor and moisture from the olive oil. There is no shortage of ways to use this remarkable olive oil. Because of the slight spiciness, this olive oil is also great for dipping breads and as a base for salad dressings. Like me, you’ll be reaching for it often!
Although supermarket shelves are lined with multiple varieties of extra virgin olive oil, the quality of many of these products leaves plenty to be desired. Unfortunately, many products that are labeled "extra virgin olive oil" are not prepared according to the rigorous standards such a label should ensure. Happily, there's an easy way to ensure that you're getting a top-quality, authentic product, and its name is Flavors of Lonato! This small company, formed by two friends on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, is dedicated to bringing top of the line, small-batch food products from the Garda region of Italy to the United States! They work exclusively with small producers who have complete control over their product from beginning to end, thus ensuring impeccable quality and taste. I recently tried their Extra Virgin Organic Classic Olive Oil, and was blown away by the rich taste. I combined it with sea salt and cracked pepper to create a dip for bread, and was amazed at how full the taste was - slightly grassy, slightly fruity...and a far cry from the stuff on the supermarket shelves! Definitely a winner in my book!
***
Flavors of Lonato del Garda was started by two very dear friends, each on the opposite side of the great pond. As the world has transformed from what we know as round, separated only by distance and culture, these friends took an idea to bring a small part of Italian culture with its rich history and passion for healthy cooking to a world that is now flat. With trust and determination, this friendship over the years inspired the idea which you now see before you: “Flavors of Lonato.” Our idea, a little taste of Northern Italian fare, is represented by the finest products from the small villages exclusive to the Garda region of Italy. This region is known for the exceptional high quality of products produced by small family owned growers with over a millennium of expertise that has been passed down from generation to generation. “Flavors of Lonato” now proudly brings this rich historic culture to the US consumer for all to enjoy!
Is it possible that we have brought food down to the lowest common denominator? Much of our food is processed, pasteurized and homogenized until it becomes bland and indistinguishable. Many of us have come to accept mediocrity, telling ourselves these products are “good enough” because that’s all we have come to know. But when you’ve tasted food created from an artist’s own hands, made with patience and love, with all of it’s complexities and cultural identity intact, good enough is no longer part of our vocabulary. Great food makes life worth living, even if it is just for the sweet taste of grapes, a bite of cheese that is so good there are no words to describe it. Balsamic vinegars that have been lovingly created and aged for 25 years or a piece of freshly baked bread dipped into a fresh press olive oil. Great food brings people together to share the experience of a region, culture and the lives of those who thoughtfully grew it. Good enough can never do that, and Flavors of Lonato del Garda, Inc. (“FLG”) never accepts “good enough”. In recent years, a controversy has been arising regarding the labeling of food items as a “Product of Italy” or substandard olive oil as “Extra Virgin”. When a product is labeled as a “Product of Italy”, most people assume that this means the product was grown, processed, packaged and shipped from Italy but the product itself could have been purchased anywhere and shipped to Italy for processing. By the same token, if a label of olive oil reads “Extra Virgin” it does not mean that it has been processed and prepared according to the strict guidelines established to ensure the quality that the label implies. FLG standards guarantee that our products are grown, processed, and shipped from Italy only and that they are of the highest quality and standard because “good enough” is not good enough!
About Our Featured Product:
Olive Oil: We currently have two lines of olive oil – our premium, organic line and our classic line. Our premium, organic line has been certified “organic” by the Italian government and is extra virgin. In order for olive oil to qualify as extra virgin, it must be cold pressed within 24 hours of harvesting. Our premium line of olive oil is cold pressed within 4 hours of harvesting which gives it a smoother, fresher, more robust taste. We have two varieties of premium olive oil – light and robusto. The robusto olive oil has been cold pressed with the pit intact. The light olive oil has been cold pressed after the pit has been removed. Our classic line of olive oil is DOP certified and is extra virgin (cold pressed within 24 hours of harvesting).
####
Flavors of Lonato del Garda, LLC acts as an importer and wholesaler of specialty products imported from the Garda region in Northern Italy. All of our products have either been certified as organic by the Italian government (a designation that is not easy to achieve) or have either a DOP or IGP certification. Each manufacturer is required to provide copies of certifications, safety inspections and audit results and keep a copy of a current certificate of insurance on file with our company. Our products include balsamic vinegars, balsamic vinegar creams, liquid salts, apple vinegars, flavored vinegars, Italian roast coffee and quality olive oils. More information about Flavors of Lonato can be found at www.flavorsoflonato.com
