Meet Spanish food expert Gerry Shikatani and sample Luque Olive Oil:
this Saturday, July 15 at All The Best Fine Foods.
Click here for directions.
Luque Organic Olive Oil
by Gerry Shikatani Bearing simply the family name of the owners, Luque brings generations of olive cultivation experience. Their first mill was established in 1810.
A family estate oil, it is Cerified Organic, produced entirely on the property in Castro del Rio in the southeast of the province of Cordoba (Andalucia), just southeast of provincial capital, Cordoba.
 The property was converted to organic farming in 1990 after Seņor Luque left as director of producer Carbonell (probably the most widely distributed Spanish olive oil brand in the world) and turn all attention to the family etstae. The Luque family business is one of the most pro-active pioneering producers in the organic agriculture movement in the region and Spain with traceability to farm plot. It has been lauded for its work such as organizing workshops and courses on ecological oil, participating in conferences to encourage organic olive oil through promotion and education.
The mill began commercial production of organic oil in 1999.
The high standards of Luque are renowned: it produces the custom Spanish Olive Oil for America’s best known organic label, Spectrum.
At Alimentaria 2006 (Barcelona), one of the world’s largest food and beverage shows, Luque was one of only forty oils selected from Spain’s approximately one thousand labels, for featured sampling in the Tasting Area in the Olive Oils Pavillion.
The Luque children – Juan Manuel (agricultural engineer), Belen (sales marketing, export), plus Rafael Galvez, Belen’s husband (agricultural engineer) – actively drive the company, dedicated to the progressive aims of the worldwide organic movement.
The olive trees grow in classic Cordoban terroir, rolling, tree-covered hills, fully and rather uniformly exposed to sun.
LUQUE an artisanal extra virgin organic olive oil
Cultivation: 100% organic. For over ten years, without
insecticides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
Extraction : Slow-drip very low-speed centrifugation of 4 revolutions/minute prevents heating and degradation of fresh olive juice
Aroma: Seductive, sweet grass, nut and orchard fruit nose.
Taste: Agreeably medium fluid, instantly fruity and grassy at first - some fresh green almond, hazelnut follow; gentlle bitter notes followed by a final pepperiness, not overpowering but with developing length. Complex, lusciously harmonious, not extreme but strong elegant personality
An ideal all-use oil for dressing cold and cooked foods, but also cooking – even for deep-frying.
Shelf Life: Under proper conditions it should hold full stability for at least fifteeen months from production if properly stored..
Luque oil is a coupage (blend of varietals), typical of Cordoba:
60% Pajarero, an indigenous very local variety of this part of Cordoba province
Is an olive very resistant to cold and hot weather, and to disease, yielding a very fragrant and fruity oil. It is not extremely stable.
40% Picual.
Provides notes of wood and much wanted peppery notes, but with by far the highest stability of all olive oils – figured as fully stable up to a remarkable two years from production. Making Luque a versatile oil with good stability.
*Both pajarero and picual are notably high among olive oils in antioxydants.
All The Best Fine Foods offers samples of every olive oil they sell.
Visit www.allthebestfinefoods.com for directions or call 416 928 3330. |
As the Canadian media’s only specialist of Spanish gastronomy, Gerry Shikatani has been researching and sampling Spain’s foods since the early 1980’s and focusing on the country’s olive oils for over a decade. Now, the renown author and critic presents A Critic's Selection of privately imported gourmet items for chefs and home enthusiasts available at All The Best Fine Foods.
