Recent Acquisitions

Hubs shares the same passion for food that I do. Alongside cooking and growing it, he also loves reading and chatting about it. Which is how he met Anthony. Readers and commenters on many of the same food & farming discussions, the two kept rubbing digital elbows with one another, eventually forming a friendship.

For the most part, the bulk of packages that show up in our mailbox have my name on them, to Hubs' chagrin. Imagine then his profound delight when a parcel came in this weekend's mail for him. Anthony had generously sent us a bottle of his farm's fresh-pressed olive oil, Olio Nuovo.

A third generation family farm in the San Joaquin Valley, Anthony's Casa Rosa Farms grows and produces olive oil using (from their website) "sustainable water wise methods." Additionally, the farm raises pastured lamb and beef, grows almonds, and produces organic alfalfa hay for Organic Valley dairy co-op members.

The oil is otherworldly. Transcendent. Rhapsodic. You get the idea. Here's Anthony's description, from an email to Hubs: It's the healthiest, but also the most perishable. It's cloudy and still has solids floating around in it so give it a shake now & then before use. Use it within 3 months, for very low heat cooking, salads, and dipping oil (it turns regular old store bought french bread into a real treat). Store in a cool dark place. The way I describe it is, it has a mild peppery burn that you feel spread across your chest after tasting, kind of like taking a sip of a good brandy, and a mild bitterness from the polyphenol content.

Thank you so very much, Anthony. Here's to delicious oils, healthy farms, and friendships that are forged through shared passions for fields and forks alike!