Olio Verde al Limone just won the Food Oscar at NYC's Fancy Food Show on June 28, 2010. This is the second Sofi Award for Gianfranco Becchina who was the first olive oil to win the same prize, in 1998. One has to realize this is a truly outstanding product. It turns out, rarely does anyone flavor their olive oil in such a nitpicky way and based on such know-how and honesty as Gianfranco Becchina - I was there when they produced their 2009 batch last November in Sicily, and saw how incredibly unique this production is: - they pick the lemons on their trees on the very last day of the olive harvest and pressing so no essencial oils get lost from the citrus which would happen if they stored the fruit even just overnight; - then a whole crew in the kitchens starts to peel the zest off and makes sure no white pith is peeled off as well which would give off a bitter taste; - finally, these peels are stored for a few hours in big airless containers in a cool room and added bit by bit by Gianfranco to the olives going into the crusher, starting at about 4pm and ending way into the night. They then baked a citrus-blend plumcake with their freshpressed lemon olio verde and it was heavenly... I believe they now have a new website or blog, at www.olioverde.it. I'll go post this there too! Enjoy - as I did.

Olio Verde al Limone just won the Food Oscar at NYC's Fancy Food Show on June 28, 2010. This is the second Sofi Award for Gianfranco Becchina who was the first olive oil to win the same prize, in 1998. One has to…