The California Olive Oil Commission
The California Olive Oil Commission was formed under the stewardship of Senator Lois Wolk. Similar to the Almond Commission, the Olive Oil Commission was created to standardize nomenclature as well as the processing of oils from California. Is this a good thing, at the right time or not? Fortunately everyone has their opinion and gets […]
Traveling In Europe 2014
Oils, Wine, and Cultural Preferences Travel. Travel a lot. It is great fun. When you get to travel for your business and get to eat your way through France and Italy, go for it. Mark and I just returned from Europe where we tasted our way down the Rhone River in Provence, France then […]
Gelato
JULY is national ice cream month, but we have something much better. Italian Gelato!!! Celebrate! IL Fiorello has gelato, made by Leo Leo in Paso Robles. The family is from Florence, hence the name Leo, or Lion, the symbol of Florence. Fantastic, delightful, perfect, amazing, colors and flavors. 99 to be exact. Each week we […]
Sustainable, Intelligent Farming
Il Fiorello goes solar! We have installed solar panels on our Visitors Center and on our Mill Barn to capture the brilliant sunshine energy of Suisun Valley. We decided to make the commitment and do what we really believe in, using a better way to produce energy. As we expand the Visitors Center we will […]
Chocolate, Olive Oil, and Dolcetto
Here at Il Fiorello, we like to play with unique pairings of olive oil, food, and selected wines. One of our favorite pairings is chocolate olive oil truffles and Galvan Family Cellars’ Dolcetto dessert wine. This pairing in particular is mouth-wateringly delicious. The truffles are made with dark chocolate and our Leccino olive oil, a […]
Solano County’s Stand Against Olive Fly
THE SOLANO COUNTY OLIVE GROWERS MEETING REGARDING THE OLIVE FLY INFESTATION FEB 28, 2014 This is a synopsis of the olive fly meeting held on Feb 28, 2014 in Solano County. This represents information given to participants by experts in the field. As with any synopsis this does not constitute a complete coverage of the […]
Working A Tasting Room
When working in a tasting room, you never know who is going to walk through the door. The guests might be completely new to olive oil or they might be experts. They may want an in depth tasting or they may just be interested in one type. Fortunately, we have something for everyone. However, being […]
Olive Fly: Time to Start Spraying
The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera:Tephritidae), is an important pest to be very aware of if you grow olives (Olea europaea). This pest was introduced and invaded California around 1998, and spread rapidly throughout the state and northern Mexico (Rice et al., 2003). It is very prevalent in Europe. We are spraying our […]
What’s Cooking at Il Fiorello: Calabrian Beans
At the Green Valley Farmers Market and at IL Fiorello we presented a beautiful dish of Cici Beans, or chick peas, cooked with a soffrito and olive oil. This recipe was presented to a group of Chefs from the Michael Mina Group restaurant RN74 during a comparative oil tasting. We paired the dish with a […]
Not Your Grandmother’s Olive Oil
You may be use to olive oil that your grandmother served, the kind that stays under the cupboard and comes in tin cans, too often rancid and adulterated. The oils of IL Fiorello are single varietal, early harvest for good pungency and certified extra virgin. At the New York International competition our oils were awarded […]