Living Villa Cappelli - 022: How to tell if your extra virgin olive oil is really extra virgin

022: How to tell if your extra virgin olive oil is really extra virgin

Explicit content warning

10/18/15 • 34 min

Living Villa Cappelli

After a short catch up on life at the villa, including a couple of culinary tours and our harvest of peppers, you'll learn about our PLUS method (Price. Label. Understanding. Source) which you can use to help ensure the extra virgin olive oil you are buying is truly extra virgin olive oil.

Topics we cover:

Why you should always back up your hard drive with an external drive like this one or a cloud based system
Our two culinary tours and one bike tour we just had
The first culinary tour with chefs Michael Howell and Michael Blackie
Canada's premiere food film festival Devour!
Michael Blackie's restaurant Next
The fun with have with HETravel tours at Villa Cappelli
Some of our favorite restaurants in the area, including Grotta Palazzese and Antichi Sapori
Why most Italian restaurants don't like serving kids
Why it's hard for Italian restaurants here in Italy, from the number of seatings to alcohol consumption
Why you shouldn't order off the menu in an Italian restaurant
Paul's long lost cousins from California that recently visited us
Our Facebook group, Terlizzi USA
Our shipment we're preparing for the US
Paul and his peppers, from Habaneros to the hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper
Why we called our spicy products, KTM, Kit a Mut or Curse the Dead
The Scoville Scale for rating peppers and what it means, which essential the Smithsonian Magazine explains better than me: The idea was to dilute an alcohol-based extract made with the given pepper until it no longer tasted hot to a group of taste testers. The degree of dilution translates to the SHU. In other words, according to the Scoville scale, you would need as many as 5,000 cups of water to dilute 1 cup of tobacco sauce enough to no longer taste the heat. Some of the health benefits of peppers, including lowering blood pressure, thinning blood and helping HEAL ulcers
Some of our other conserves like our Plum Conserves
A video series on Italian television about the fraud in the olive oil industry
Why the politicians are one of the biggest problems, including laws that confiscated oil has to be proven bad within three days time and customs officials are held personally responsible for any losses a company may experience if the company fights the charges brought against them
The economics of extra virgin olive oil and how it's impossible to sell extra virgin olive oil for as little amount of money that big companies do
Our PLUS method to insure you what are buying is truly extra virgin olive oil
- Price. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Label. Look for seals like DOP and the origin of olives.
- Understanding. Know that terms like "light" and "pure" olive oil are just marketing terms.
- Source. Know where your extra virgin olive oil comes from. Trust a farm, not a factory.
Why you shouldn't be fooled by green oil

Topics we cover:

Why you should always back up your hard drive with an external drive like this one or a cloud based system
Our two culinary tours and one bike tour we just had
The first culinary tour with chefs Michael Howell and Michael Blackie
Canada's premiere food film festival Devour!
Michael Blackie's restaurant Next
The fun with have with HETravel tours at Villa Cappelli
Some of our favorite restaurants in the area, including Grotta Palazzese and Antichi Sapori
Why most Italian restaurants don't like serving kids
Why it's hard for Italian restaurants here in Italy, from the number of seatings to alcohol consumption
Why you shouldn't order off the menu in an Italian restaurant
Paul's long lost cousins from California that recently visited us
Our Facebook group, Terlizzi USA
Our shipment we're preparing for the US
Paul and his peppers, from Habaneros to the hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper
Why we called our spicy products, KTM, Kit a Mut or Curse the Dead
The Scoville Scale for rating peppers and what it means, which essential the Smithsonian Magazine explains better than me: The idea was to dilute an alcohol-based extract made with the given pepper until it no longer tasted hot to a group of taste testers. The degree of dilution translates to the SHU. In other words, according to the Scoville scale, you would need as many as 5,000 cups of water to dilute 1 cup of tobacco sauce enough to no longer taste the heat. Some of the health benefits of peppers, including lowering blood pressure, thinning blood and helping HEAL ulcers
Some of our other conserves like our Plum Conserves
A video series on Italian television about the fraud in the olive oil industry
Why the politicians are one of the biggest problems, including laws that confiscated oil has to be proven bad within three days time and customs officials are held personally responsible for any losses a company may experience if the company fights the charges brought against them
The economics of extra virgin olive oil and how it's impossible to sell extra virgin olive oil for as little amount of money that big companies do
Our PLUS method to insure you what are buying is truly extra virgin olive oil
- Price. If the price seems too good to be true, it probably is.
- Label. Look for seals like DOP and the origin of olives.
- Understanding. Know that terms like "light" and "pure" olive oil are just marketing terms.
- Source. Know where your extra virgin olive oil comes from. Trust a farm, not a factory.
Why you shouldn't be fooled by green oil

Previous Episode

021: If you love seafood and beaches, you’ll love Puglia, Italy

The second part of our Puglia coast series where you’ll learn all about the southern coastal towns of Puglia, including Bisceglia, Molfetta, Giovinazzo, Poliganano A Mare, and Monopoli, Otranto, Leuca, Gollipoli, Porto Selvaggio and one of the world’s most amazing places to take a swim. So put bring your appetites and bathing suits, and join us on this tour of the Puglia coast.

Topics we cover:

Bisceglia fish market
Why fish from the Adriatic tastes better than fish from the Mediterranean
Bisceglia’s old town
The restaurant we found in Bisceglia who’s family has been has been running the same restaurant for 150 years
Their amazing Braciola/Involtini made with horse meat
The port and town of Molfetta
The fishing port and market of Molfetta
The connection of Molfetta and Hoboken
The great shopping centers in Molfetta
The charming seaside town of Giovinazzo
Why the streets are so narrow and winding in Giovinazzo
Polignano a Mare, a amazing town which juts out into the sea
Grotta Palazzese, which is listed as one of the top ten restaurants in the world with a view
The cliff diving in Polignano A Mare
How Polignano A Mare is the home town of Domenico Modugno, who sang Volare
The connection to the statue of in Polignano A Mare and Villa Cappelli
A little about Monopoli
The amazing cathedral at Otranto with a mosaic floor designed all by one monk and alter made with the bones of martyrs
The different kind of beaches in Puglia, rock versus sand
Leuca where the two seas meet, the Mediterranean and Adriatic
Gollipoli with it’s amazing beaches
How Gollipoli is becoming a huge European gay destination
Porto Selvaggio and it’s amazing beach, definitely worth a visit
Porto Cesareo and our impression of it
Just a bit on Taranto and its archeological museum
A swimming hole in Puglia always listed as amazing places to take a swim in the world: Grotta della Poesia, Roca Vecchia, Italy, which is also an important archaeological site.
Some of the products we’re producing right now, including our Plum Conserve and Fig Conserve

The swimming cove at Porto Selvaggio. The tower view at Porto Selvaggio in Puglia, Italy. The ancient olive trees found along the coast in southern Puglia.

Next Episode

023: Italy has the world's best sandwich topper (and it's not ketchup!)

Not ketchup. Not mayo. Not even mustard. We think the world's best sandwich and hamburger topper is our Red Onion Jam (Cipolon'). After a few shout outs to some fans, we tell you just what goes into making this amazing product and what else you can do with it.

Topics we cover:

Some help from our fans:
- Susan W. who let me know the last couple of podcasts were in mono. Sorry guys!
- Michele who had his own story the Italian last name Esposito and from Episode 005: Italian names: nicknames, family names, married names and more, and a correction about the coastline of Rhode Island from Episode 18: Why southern Italy is better than northern Italy.
Paul's mother living with us now and the one tool that helps us a ton at the villa. Check it out here.
How we added 700 sq meters to the villa (7534 sq. feet)
Red Tropea Onions — what they are and where the come from
Why British and French Red Onion Jam
It does sound strange, but why it's so good
Our questions about what the difference is between jams, conserves, preserves and marmalades. If you know the official answer, let us know at [email protected]
What we make our fruit conserves with
Why Paul hates to see fruit on a tree that is not going to be picked
Paul's idea for a new product line. What do you think? Let us know.
The ingredients in our red onion jam (also known as Cipolon')
How to use the red tropea onion jam
- On a sharp piece of cheese (the salty sweet combination is amazing)
- On a piece of bread with lardo
- On a piece of salami
- As the world's best sandwich or hamburger topper
- On a nice piece of steak
- In place of onions or caramelized onions to your sauces and other dishes
How ...