Blog

  At our Visitors Center, people are always interested in why and how we prepare food, create recipes, and match oils with food. Here are some of my simple tenants for IL Fiorello.   Use good, clean, and fair ingredients. This is also the hallmark of Slow Food and sensible eating Don’t complicate your life […]

  What do people say? What questions do they ask in an olive oil tasting experience? The other day, a group of visitors were talking with me about the experience of running a tasting room for olive oil. They asked me what questions we get during our olive oil tasting events. Last year we presented […]

  August is tomato season in Suisun Valley and let me tell you- It is Everything Tomato at IL Fiorello! We have a lot here at the Farm. We’ve had to chase the mockingbirds away from them! Our chickens love the little red and yellow cherry tomatoes. They chase each other like little kids to catch […]

  In our tasting room I am frequently asked about fraud in olive oil. The USP* warns that the amount of food fraud has increased by 60% over the last few years. They state that the most adulterated foods are olive oil, milk, honey, syrups, lemon juice, pomegranate juice, tea, spices, and seafood. After the […]

  We are growing grape stakes and milk cartons! Looks that way but not really, soon you will see little green sprouts. To the Farmers, this means that grapes are going to be planted. The grape stakes and the milk cartons protect and support the young grapes. No harvesting or suckering is going on in […]

Making Nocino, Italian walnut liquor, usually this is made on June 24th, St John’s day. But as you can see these walnuts got a little large very early. The alcohol turns bright green from the walnuts, as do your hands. Cut the walnuts in quarters and soak in alcohol for a few weeks or longer […]

Capers come from the Caper Bush, Capparis spinose and we are growing these at the Farm. But until the bush becomes large enough to produce capers, we are using Nasturtiums seed pods, by the thousands. The Nasturtium flowers are edible and are on our tasting plates, the leaves are delicious and hold little zucchini tastes. […]

  IL Fiorello grows and produces international quality, certified extra virgin olive oil. We also help our guests to expand their palates. This is called edible education, and palate expansion. We host our guests with a comparative tasting of our extra virgin oils and present a tasting plate of healthy food. Much of the food […]

20 guests were treated to an adventure to Alice in Wonderland’s tea, by Executive Chef Gloria Ciccrone-Nehls, also known as Alice, and Sous Chef Darren Porter wearing the Mad Hatter’s Hat.  The kitchen was decorated with a Cheshire Cat peering down from the upper shelves of the kitchen supervising the class. Roses and flowers imitating […]

  This past Sunday, IL Fiorello Olive Oil Co., was host to the Napa-Solano Audubon Society. This is a biannual event and we hope to have many more. Beginning at 6:30 am, a group of intrepid birdwatchers gathered in our parking lot. With grove map in hand, bird list, and binoculars at the ready, we […]