Rediscovering Infused Olive Oils
Most infused olive oils taste so subtle, it’s as if their flavoring agent has gone incognito on a top-secret mission to infiltrate the olive oil without anyone noticing. Pasture 42, a small-scale, sustainable family farm, blows this covert operation wide open, producing two exceptional organic olive oils that are deeply saturated, one with fragrant meyer lemon, the other with heady garlic. They have become staples of our kitchen, used practically daily for sautéing, grilling, dressing salads, or seasoning vegetables.
They are wonderful alone, or in combination with each other. Perhaps best of all, they obviate the need for extra steps in the kitchen, such as squeezing fresh lemon juice or the unenviable task of mincing garlic. The meyer lemon olive oil is also flavorful enough that a salad commands no other adornment, but when paired with Pasture 42’s apricot, black raspberry, or pomegranate balsamic vinegar, it is otherworldly.
What’s more, their vinegar is only ever barrel aged, never aged in lead, a hazardous chemical which is found in most imported balsamic vinegars, including domestic brands that bottle vinegar imported from Modena. Pasture 42 also produces several superlative un-infused organic extra virgin olive oils from Spanish, Greek, and Tuscan olive varieties, as well as olio nuovo (super fresh olive oil right out of the press, available only a few weeks each year).
Many of Pasture 42’s products are available for mail order on their website. They make for wonderful holiday gifts for home cooks and come either individually or as customizable sets in attractive wooden crates. Additional products are available if you contact them directly:
Pasture 42
(530) 902-5251
farmers@pasture42.com