Category Archives: news

At Okanagan
Feast of Fields

Amelia Oil at Okanagan Feast of Fields – Sunday August 22 – Brock Farm, Okanagan Falls

We were excited to be part of the Okanagan Feast of Field of Fields event this year. This is the annual fundraiser for Farm Folk City Folk.

http://www.feastoffields.com/

We shared a booth with our friends Cam and Dana, the wonderful chefs who run Joy Road Catering. http://www.joyroadcatering.com/ We were also joined by, Tim from Sweet Pit Heirloom Tomatoes.

Dana’s artisan sourdough bread was grilled on site and topped with Tim’s colourful tomatoes and fresh basil with a liberal drizzle of Amelia Oil.- heaven !

Joy Road Catering, are the people who do the fabulous wine maker’s dinners at God’s Mountain. Dana makes some of the most delicious artisanal loaves of bread you will ever taste and they feature Amelia Oil to dip it in. They have introduced Amelia Oil to many of our good customers.

Feast of Fields features numerous chefs, vintners and local producers, showcasing the best local ingredients.

Their web site says to think of it as a roaming 25 course wine pairing and tasting menu on a gorgeous farm. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the Okanagan. It was delicious!

Put this one on the to do list for next year.

 

Heirloom Tomatoes and Amelia Oil

Rebecca and Dana at Feast of Fields

2010 Olio Nuovo

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Our 2010 Amelia Oil has arrived!
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If you have pre-ordered your olive oil, please call (604-329-0442) or send us an e-mail to arrange pick up. If you would like to order oil to be delivered, get in touch or order on line. As usual, quantities are limited. We encourage you to think of olive oil in the Italian way: buy only fresh oil and stock up on a year’s supply. This is the most economical and easiest way.
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This year we have a new 3-litre format tin as well as the usual 500ml bottles, 1-litre and 5-litre tins.
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More wonderful sale alle erbe from Vignalta arrived with this shipment. We have limited supply so be sure to order or ask for this lovely wet sea salt with herbs when you pick up your olive oil. It is one of those ingredients that can transform the simplest dish. Like our olive oil, once you start cooking with it you won’t want to be without.
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Our new 2010 extra virgin olive oil is grassy and herbaceous, which is typical of Frantoio olives. It has a peppery note on the finish, giving it that distinctive Umbrian taste that comes from Moraiolo and Rajo olives. We can’t wait to share this year’s wonderful harvest with you.

Buon Anno

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Buon anno! We’d like to wish all our customers the very best for a happy and inspired new year. We appreciate your business very much and the support you have given us. Through olive oil, we have met so many interesting people who share our passion for food and Italy. Many of you we now count as friends. It’s been so much fun.

When I refer to, “we” I am speaking of myself, and my daughter Rachel. Together, we started this business in 2006 to bring fresh olive oil with character and flavor to Vancouver and beyond.

I have some news on that front: Rachel married Doug Cook on December 29 in Elk, California. Yes, Elk! They will live in San Francisco, a great foodie city. Doug, a wine enthusiast, is known for his Able Grape web site, a search engine for wine lovers. They hope to expand Amelia Oil into the Bay area. Stay tuned for more news from Amelia Oil’s San Francisco branch.

More good news: the new 2010 olive oil from Amelia is on the boat and scheduled to arrive at the end of January. We had hoped it might arrive sooner but snow en route to the docks slowed the process. It’s hard to imagine snow in Italy but this has been a very cold winter in Europe.

This year we have added a 3-litre tin format as well as a little 250 ml mini tin. As usual we bring in extra oil, so if you didn’t get around to placing an order there should still be oil available. We’ll update you by e-mail when it arrives.

We encourage our customers to think ahead to how much olive oil they need for the year and to pick it up when it arrives in January. The idea is to use the oil within the calendar year. That is the Italian way. However, most of us aren’t very Italian and we figure it out as we go along and buy our olive oil as we need it.

A number of our customers have run out of our oil and substituted various grocery store olive oils for the Amelia Oil. I am pleased to say they told us they noticed big difference and commented that it just didn’t do the trick. There is no substitute for top-quality fresh olive oil.

We look forward to sharing with you some of the best olive oil in Italy. We have to also thank Francesco Suatoni, our friend, farmer and miller, and his family for continuing to produce delicious EVOO.

Best wishes for 2010. Auguri!

Harvest 2009

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We arrived in Amelia on November 17th after taking a train from Rome to Terni and renting a car. It was an incredibly warm and picture perfect day as we drove through the autumn coloured countryside

When we arrived at the olive mill, frantoio, we were greeted by Francesco and his parents Anna and Vincenzo. They had already pressed the olives from their own trees and were now in the middle of pressing the olives from neighbouring farmers who seemed to be arriving non-stop. I could see our visit had not come at the most convenient time for them but you wouldn’t have known from the hospitality we were shown. Aside from showing us in detail the steps of pressing the olives, we were treated to a fabulous lunch in the frantoio, which happens to boast its own private kitchen. Anna prepared us lunch that was mostly cooked in a huge open fireplace beside our table. The meal consisted of pasta, sausages, grilled meat, bruschetta, salad and pastries. This was all washed down with their own wine and limoncello. Several dishes showcased the fresh olive oil, which was drizzled freely. Yum!

I can definitely say that this year’s oil is delicious. According to Francesco it was a hot summer and the oil is of excellent quality but the production volume was far less than last year. I found it to have loads of grassy fruity flavour. This is typical of good Umbrian extra virgin olive oil.

The Suatoni family speak very little English and my Italian is even more challenged; however, they had a charming new English speaking helper, Riccardo, who was able to bridge the gap for us. In the past Rachel has been along on these trips and I could get by with her excellent Italian translations.

We took loads of pictures and Ricardo was kind enough to take us to another farm where his family were still picking olives. We had a go at it and soon realized that it is back breaking work. It made us more respectful of the amount of labour that is involved in each harvest.

We had a wonderful day in Amelia and wished we had much longer to stay and soak in the smells and ambiance of this pristine Umbrian town. Our visit renewed our sense of connection to this wonderful oil which has become the number one staple in our kitchen. We are proud to be able to share it with our customers in Canada and the United States. Stay tuned because Rachel will be expanding the American side of Amelia Oil in the new year.

– Rebecca

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Lemon Tart Loves Amelia Oil

 

We’re so happy the ‘Lemon Tart’ is enjoying her Amelia Oil. Have a look at the Lemon Tart blog to see what she has to say about us.

We always love to hear what yummy things you cook or bake with Amelia Oil. Send us your tasting notes and recipes to ameliaoil(at)telus.net. We would be happy to post a link to your blog.

Joy Road Catering

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We are so pleased that Cam and Dana of Joy Road Catering are using Amelia Oil. These talented young chefs embody the Slow Food philosophy in its essence–thoughtful, seasonal menus that feature local produce and the highest quality ingredients.

This summer we had the pleasure of attending one of their alfresco vineyard dinners at God’s Mountain in the Okanagan and it was one of the most memorable meals of the year. Great food and people in a stunning place.

Hats off to Cam and Dana for sharing their passion and talent.

Chefs to the Field

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Hopefully everyone is enjoying the summer and using lots of Amelia Oil on their grilled vegetables and meats:) We have both 2007 and 2008 extra virgin olive oil from Umbria, Italy in stock. You can order on line or give us a call to arrange pick up www.ameliaoil.com

If you are looking for some culinary entertainment and a good outing, don’t miss Chefs to the Field out at Terranova Farms in Richmond. Chefs from all over the lower mainland will be competing for the “green cuisine” award and raising money to support the Terranova Schoolyard Society. The event will take place on Aug. 10 from 11am-4pm at Terranova Farms.

Amelia Oil at Silvia Dotto’s for the Culture Crawl

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Rebecca was at Silvia Dotto’s studio for the East Side Culture Crawl this weekend. She served 2007 Amelia Oil from Silvia’s beautiful pottery dishes and both were a hit. If anyone would like to get their hands on Silvia’s ceramics, now is the time. In the future, Silvia will be focusing her efforts on her art pieces and ventures in Italian food; therefore, she is retiring her line of serving dishes. The image above is Silvia’s olive bowl. Keep your eyes on Silvia’s web site to see what she will be up to next…

Fall in Umbria

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Although I am up north in Piedmont, I find my mind constantly drifting to Umbria. The fall is one of the most beautiful seasons there. The days are shorter but they are still warm. There is the nip of fall in the evening air and you can smell everyone lighting their camini in the evening. The whole town smells like wood smoke. My stomach always rumbles at that smell because it reminds me eating lovely grilled meat. There is nothing like food cooked over a wood fire. This is a taste that most of us have lost. Living in a city, it is not usually possible to have a wood-burning fireplace. The city tames us by taking us away from our most natural and primal existence: I guess this is the price of modernity.

Yesterday I spoke with friends from Amelia who are enjoying the beautiful fall days and anxiously awaiting the olive harvest. I am already making plans to go down and help. The harvest is expected to be a little earlier this year, perhaps the end of October or early November. Let’s hope the good weather holds.