Ever wondered how to carry out an olive oil tasting?  Here we will show you step by step how it’s done.  Before you can awaken your senses to the world of oil, you must first learn how your senses work.

It is a common myth that we taste only with our tongues when in fact our tongues are only able to taste sweet, salt, sour and bitter.  The real flavour comes from aroma and for this we need our sense of smell.

Pour a tablespoon of oil into a tapered glass.  Cover with your hand and swirl the glass setting the aroma free.  Uncover the glass and deeply inhale the perfume.  Another common myth is that the colour of the oil defines the strength; dark oil is robust while pale oil is mild.  This is in fact false, only upon inhaling the oil can we determine the true depth.

Next, sip a little oil and then ‘sip’ in a little air, this is done to spread the oil around the mouth in order to fully taste and smell the oil.  Repeat to fully savour every nuance of the oil.

Finish by swallowing the oil to see if there is a stinging sensation in the throat.

Visit www.oliveoilsource.com for more information on the wonderful world of oil.

Yes! Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse to be exact.  Impress even the most gourmet savvy dinner guest with a simple yet ingenious little recipe combining sweet and savoury.

You will need:

6oz 70% dark chocolate

5 large free range eggs

6 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cognac

A few pinches of fleur de sel

4 sprigs of candied thyme

Here we go…

1. Slowly melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water on a low heat (a.k.a. a bain-marie) once melted, set aside to cool slightly.
2. Take the 5 eggs and separate the yolks from the whites – save these for later!  Take the yolks and whisk together with 4 tbsps. sugar until thick and smooth.
3. Slowly add the melted chocolate to the egg yolks, little by little, so as not to cook the yolks.  Add the olive oil, cognac and a pinch of fleur de sel. Fold in.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks and add the remaining 2 tbsps. sugar.  Continue whisking until stiff.
5. In 2 or 3 batches, fold the whites into the chocolate mixture using a rubber spatula and continue to fold until no white mixture remains.
6. Divide the mousse into four portions – Martini glasses are ideal serving vessels.  Cover, and place in the fridge until the mixture is set.  Around 4 hours.
7. To serve, garnish with another pinch of fluer de sel and a candied thyme sprig.

Et voilà!  Chocolate heaven!

The lyrics of Country House, the number 1 hit by Brit-Pop icons Blur from 1995, have rung true years on for Alex James, the band’s bassist, who has hung-up his guitars in favour of a life of cheese making with his wife and children on the farm he bought while on his honeymoon.

The back drop for this dramatic change of events is the idyllic Cotswolds, aka The Heart of England, where he discovered his new passion: cheese making.  He draws comparisons with cheese and music saying the more you delve deeper, the more there is to explore and learn.  Letting his creativity run wild Alex develops and creates his own fascinating recipes which his children duly put to the test.

Alex has always been known for his “foodie” tendencies.  When touring with the band he would always make sure there was time to try the local cheeses wherever they went.

More on this can be found in the article by Vogue.es.  Breath-taking photography by Fiona Campbell and Jake Gavin.

El Mil del Poaig was chosen by reknown chef Carles Tejedor to respresent olive oil in his paper for Science & Cooking in Harvard.
Here you have the full video of his speech altogether some boring physics, in words of Dr. David Weitz (Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics), but also with many exciting experiments and experiences about the universe of olive oil.
Enjoy!

Ingredients (4 servings):

1 piece cuttlefish (1 kg), 1 cucumber (150 gr), 100 gr melon, 875 gr onions, 600 gr fresh squid, 1 glass white wine, 1.5 l still water, 100 gr egg white (half-whisked), 3 gr potato starch for each 100 gr squid, 6 tender almonds, 12 lemon balm leaves, El Mil del Poaig extra-virgin olive oil, fine salt.

Preparation

1.-Clean and peel the cuttlefish. Cut it in square pieces of 7 cm and freeze them separately (-24º).

2.-Cut in slices of 0.3 cm, then place them one on top of the other and set it aside.

3.-Cut the cucumber ends and slice it, then cut the slices in half. Set it aside among wet paper.

4.-From the inner part of the melon, cut cubes of 1.3 x 1.3 and set aside.

5.-Peel the onion and cut it en brunoise. Poach it with the olive oil till coating it in caramel. Then add the squid slices and cook for 5 min till the juice evaporates. Add the water and cook on a low flame for 30 min. Strain and let it all cool down.

6.-Add the egg white and stir. Cook on a low flame in the hotplate avoiding the boiling point. Strain again and set it aside in portions.

7.-Put almonds to soak for 1 min, cut them in half and set them aside in wet paper.

Finish and presentation

In a soup dish, set out 30 gr of texturized squid and the melon cubes all around in the shape of a triangle. Add the cucumber pieces.

Burn the result with a blowlamp, salt it and set it out right in the middle of the dish. Add one lemon balm leaf and one almond on top of each melon cube.