9 minute read
FEATURE: Olive Oil
Beyond the grove
For chefs and producers, olive oil will always have pride of place in the kitchen.
WORDS Aristine Dobson, PHOTOGRAPHY Nikki To for The Apollo
WHETHER IT’S A drizzle or a generous pour, olive oil is a staple ingredient in many cuisines. The liquid foodstuff can be found in almost every kitchen and demand continues to grow. While olive oils are often imported, Australian-made options are booming and are raising the bar when it comes to quality. Local olive farmers are growing across Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania, with a whopping 3,131,000 tonnes of olive oil produced from 2018–2019.
From extra virgin, pure and refined olive oil to first harvest products and flavoured blends, the variety on offer is nothing short of inspirational for chefs and producers alike. Hospitality speaks to Anne Ashbolt of Ashbolt Farm and The Apollo’s Marcello Arru on all things olive oil.
The producer
Anne Ashbolt and life partner Robert Ashbolt launched their namesake farm in Tasmania 42 years ago. Before the Ashbolts took over, the family estate was run by outside managers and the land was described as “rundown”. For the first 20 years, the pair experimented with different crops until eventually deciding on olives. “We looked at what we could do that would hold the land together because it was old, fragile soil; it was very sandy and didn’t have a lot of organic matter,” says Ashbolt. “We had high frost areas in winter and were just on the margins of where you can grow olives in the world. But with careful management, we found the olive trees were one crop we could put in, and because we didn’t have to dig up the soil year on year, we could work on repairing the farm from the ground up.”
Tasmania’s notoriously cold winters mean the harvest volume is far less than that of warmer climate olives. However, the environment provides higher levels of antioxidants and polyphenols, which are key for premium olive oil. “I did a lot of research before we started,” says Ashbolt. “I went for olives that would be stronger in a cool climate and that would be resistant to some of the colder temperatures we get here.”
The Ashbolts grow 11 types of olives on the farm including Tuscan varieties such as Frantoio, Paragon and Leccino along with Mission, Arbequina, Mammoth and Manzanillo. Different olives are used for different oil grades. “We make three grades; they’re all extra virgin,” says Ashbolt. “We pick the best of the best and we sell what we call our First Harvest [about $120 per litre], which is the top oil we can make in any year. It sells to our online customer base and it usually is sold out after a few months because it has a solid following.”
First Harvest is an award-winning oil, but Ashbolt makes other types of olive oils that are of equal quality and at a lower price point. “We have our Red Label, which also wins medals every year, and that’s a really similar cool-climate oil, but it’s not as soft as the First Harvest,” she says. “The Red Label incorporates olives that are riper, so the yields are a bit higher. It’s also made with different varieties which [vary] according to the season.”
Among the product line-up is a high-grade commercial oil, Plenty Road, that the farm sells to chefs. “Plenty Road is predominantly Frantoio,” says Ashbolt. “It’s a nice, robust oil and of a very high grade with great flavours. It’s usually what chefs choose as a cooking oil, whereas the others might be used more for dressing due to the cost.”
Cold-pressed is a term found on many olive oil bottles and alludes to the method of production. For Ashbolt, modern processes are far more nuanced than two words. “Cold-pressed is a term that consumers have really hung on to and it’s not really the technical term,” she says. “In the old days, people used to press with mats they would compress down and the oil would come out. [It was] delightful fresh off the press, but it takes a long time and the oil can oxidise.
“The industry needed to do it in a bigger way. The speedier you get the olive from the tree to the bottle (or to the vat), the higher the polyphenols and antioxidants.”
Modern olive oil-making techniques have changed over the years, with the Ashbolts using machinery for the production process. “You put the whole olive into the press machine at one end and it comes out as a beautiful oil at the other,” says Ashbolt. “The machine will chop up the pits and then takes them through to the malaxer. In our case, we take all the pits out and then we put the fruit into the malaxer which gently swishes the olive oil around.”
The olives are kept in the malaxer for around half an hour at approximately -24 degrees Celsius. As the oil comes to room temp, it is released to the top of the pulp, which is made up of the flesh, skins and olive water. “It’s like wine-making; a marriage of art and science where each batch is different,” says Ashbolt. “You don’t want to press it in the malaxer for too long because it will start to oxidise.”
Making olive oil is an artform, and every press brings on new challenges for Ashbolt Farm. “With olive oil, it might be the olives are wetter one season than another or maybe we choose to take olives that have a bigger flesh to pit ratio,” says the producer. “Some olives have very low flesh but really high oil content and some olives have big fleshy fruit and quite a lot of water content. It’s like being a chef in the press operating room; you’re listening to the oil, you’re smelling the oil, you’re hearing the press and it’s a living thing each time you make it.”
The chef
Head Chef Marcello Arru uses olive oil liberally at The Apollo in Sydney’s Potts Point, with the Italian native describing olive oil as an intrinsic part of Mediterranean cooking. “I think olive oil and extra virgin olive oil is the backbone of Greek cuisine; it’s like lemon, honey and oregano,” he says. “There are so many olive trees in Greece and it’s really easy to find an olive press in a village to make your own oil. My family does this in Sardinia; it is kind of like wine where different regions grow different varieties.”
The restaurant specialises in Greek cuisine and olive oil is naturally a foundational component. “Olive oil and extra virgin olive oil are key ingredients at The Apollo; we use olive oil all the way through from cooking to finishing,” says Arru. “We also use the oil like a seasoning when we finish a dish.”
When it comes to picking the right olive oil for the job, Arru preferences varieties that aren’t too fruity or peppery. “It’s a bit difficult for me using the standard olive oils we’ve tried in the past, but we find the best solution is always Greek oils,” he says. “They’re not too strong or fruity as we don’t use super fruity oil. Some olive oils are too peppery and strong and you can feel them in your throat.”
Arru opts for a Greek olive oil called Minos or Cutrera from Sicily, selecting them for their reliability and consistency when it comes to flavour. “I find Greek or Italian olive oils have the right balance and are always the same,” says the chef. “They’ve been producing olive oil for many years.”
Storing olive oil is just as important as knowing when and how to use it. Too much exposure to the light and air can hinder an oil’s longevity, which is why standard methods of storage see the use of ceramic vessels or dark containers. “It’s best to store olive oil in a cool, dark place and try not to let the light penetrate the bottle by leaving it out,” says Arru. “It’s always best to keep it in an aluminium or stainless-steel tank if you have bigger volumes, otherwise you can just keep it in a dark bottle.”
The Apollo goes through olive oil quite quickly, but the kitchen still has a rule of thumb when it comes to shelf life. “We tend to use olive oil for no more than one year and we change them out for the new harvest anually,” says Arru. “It can go off after eight or nine months and the flavour and colour changes. The best is always the freshest olive oil you can find.”
Different oils also have different smoke points and while olive oil can be used at high temperatures and even for deep frying, Arru prefers to use it for low-heat applications. “My first rule is don’t burn it and don’t heat the olive oil too much,” says the chef. “It’s better for finishing a dish or warming up.”
The offering at The Apollo demonstrates the versatility of olive oil and Arru uses the ingredient to add an extra “burst of flavour” or to level out a dish. One example sees barbecued fish dressed in an infused olive oil blend. “We finish the fish with warm olive oil and infuse it with fresh herbs,” says Arru. “The warm olive oil extracts all the essential oils from the herbs to make a perfect dressing on top of the fish.” ■
