{"id":3130,"date":"2017-03-05T21:47:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T21:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macrinabakery.com\/blog\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2017-03-06T05:05:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T05:05:10","slug":"azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/","title":{"rendered":"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are many good olive oils out there, but few that are exceptional, especially at a reasonable price. I tried Azeite Esplendido at the Fancy Food Show earlier this year and was blown away. Sheila Fitzgerald, the importer, impressed me with her passion and knowledge for all things olive oil, from its health benefits to the advantages of small-scale artisanal production. I love the balance this oil has. It\u2019s assertive, with that great peppery spice, not bitter, and low in acidity. I am proud to add Azeite Esplendido to the small curated line of products we carry at Macrina.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Leslie<\/i><\/p>\n

Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal<\/b><\/h1>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

A great extra virgin olive oil is as different from the typical pale yellow stuff sold in supermarkets as pure maple syrup is from Aunt Jemima\u2019s. Good olive oil is alive and peppery, not bitter, and taken straight can make you cough. If you\u2019re accustomed to bland commodity olive oil one spoonful of the real thing will transport you to another gustatory plane where flavor defies known parameters.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s sort of what happened when Seattle resident Sheila Fitzgerald was hiking through northern Portugal en route to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela in 2012. In the high hills above the Douro Valley, a soaring majestic patchwork of cultivated agriculture and natural, craggy slopes, she found herself in a grove of olive trees. Some had massive trunks, their limbs twisted and magnificent with age. She introduced herself to the property owner, Henrique Cardoso, a fourth-generation farmer, who then introduced her to his olive oil.<\/p>\n

\"fullsizeoutput_3e9a\" \u201cI knew good olive oil, but I\u2019d never tasted anything like his,\u201d Sheila says. \u201cThe golden-green oil had a peppery spiciness to it, no bitterness, and a complexity and balance that I\u2019d never experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

That revelatory moment kicked off Sheila\u2019s four-year journey to become the sole US importer of Henrique\u2019s olive oil. The first challenge was winning Henrique\u2019s trust, persuading him that she would uphold his fierce commitment to quality. Next came an extended process of gaining FDA approval, an involved study of the existing US market, selecting bottles, and designing a label.<\/p>\n

Since that first visit, Sheila has been back many times, including at harvest time, which starts in November and goes through January.<\/p>\n

\"fullsizeoutput_3257\"<\/p>\n

\u201cHenrique picks his olives early and makes Azeite Esplendido from the first harvest,\u201d Sheila says. \u201cThat means the olive is picked when they\u2019re very green. Most farmers wait until the olives get plumper. That way they get more oil out of it. But the olive loses flavor as it ripens. My oil has a peppery spiciness to it. That\u2019s indicative of an early harvest. It can bring tears to your eyes, even make you cough. That\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvest is a time of celebration. An autumnal chill in the air, the groves often laced with tendrils of fog, pickers go from tree to tree using long rakes to pull the olives into nets. An old tractor hauls them to the press, no longer one of the picturesque stone mills, but a state-of-the-art stainless steel centrifuge.<\/p>\n

\"fullsizeoutput_3383\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe olives are washed then ground into a mash before they\u2019re dumped into the centrifuge,\u201d Sheila says. \u201cHenrique continually adjusts the revolutions per second, which changes the oil. He\u2019s always testing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the bottling, which is done within twelve hours of pressing, comes the blending. Azeite Esplendido is composed of first cold-pressed oil from four types of olives: Transmontona Verdeal, Cobran\u00e7osa, Cordovil, and Madural.<\/p>\n

Sheila says, \u201cHenrique guards the percentage of each olive in the blend. It\u2019s the secret to his recipe. Along with picking at the right time, carefully monitoring of the oil extraction, and cultivating the best trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"fullsizeoutput_3138\"<\/p>\n

The Tras-os-Montes region, where the farm is located, is one of the six protected designation of origin (DOP) zones in Portugal. The microclimate and soil make it an ideal place for olive trees. On Henrique\u2019s farm, the trees are widely spaced to allow each tree plenty of sun and wind and rain. Some of the trees are five to six hundred years old. These are called the mother trees. Around their base workers mound extra dirt. When new shoots come up they are transplanted, hence the name mother tree. The trees are not irrigated.<\/p>\n

Sheila says, \u201cHenrique told me doesn\u2019t want to babysit his trees. It\u2019s survival of the fittest. If it can\u2019t grow there, he doesn\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Italy\u2019s olive trees suffered through a terrible year in 2016 that halved production, Henrique\u2019s groves fared well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlive oil is a live product. It changes over time,\u201d Sheila says. \u201cIt\u2019s dependent on fluctuations in the weather. The new harvest is so bright green. Henrique tasted the oil at bottling and said, \u2018My olive oil is so good this year we\u2019re gonna blow the dishes off the wall.\u2019 It wasn\u2019t a translation issue. That\u2019s his expression. No one makes olive oil like he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last April, at the New York International Olive Oil Competition, 827 olive oil entries from 26 countries were judged. Azeite Espledido took home the top honor, a gold medal.<\/p>\n

Macrina is proud to carry this fine olive oil. Buy a bottle and a loaf of your favorite crusty bread, puddle a bit of oil on a plate and dip. Will it blow the dishes off the wall? Probably not. But it just might blow you away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are many good olive oils out there, but few that are exceptional, especially at a reasonable price. I tried Azeite Esplendido at the Fancy Food Show earlier this year and was blown away. Sheila Fitzgerald, the importer, impressed me … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10,53,19,12,30,1],"tags":[396,37,395,397],"class_list":["post-3130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leslie-mackie","category-locations","category-meet-our-family","category-menu","category-our-suppliers","category-products","category-uncategorized","tag-azeite-esplendido","tag-macrina","tag-olive-oil","tag-olive-trees"],"yoast_head":"\nAzeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThere are many good olive oils out there, but few that are exceptional, especially at a reasonable price. I tried Azeite Esplendido at the Fancy Food Show earlier this year and was blown away. Sheila Fitzgerald, the importer, impressed me … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Macrina Bakery Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macrinabakery\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-05T21:47:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-03-06T05:05:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Macrina Bakery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@macrinabakery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@macrinabakery\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Macrina Bakery\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/\",\"name\":\"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-05T21:47:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-03-06T05:05:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/28663a52ac289db064726e7e764af1d9\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png\",\"width\":926,\"height\":1104},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Macrina Bakery Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/28663a52ac289db064726e7e764af1d9\",\"name\":\"Macrina Bakery\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog","og_description":"\u201cThere are many good olive oils out there, but few that are exceptional, especially at a reasonable price. I tried Azeite Esplendido at the Fancy Food Show earlier this year and was blown away. Sheila Fitzgerald, the importer, impressed me … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/","og_site_name":"Macrina Bakery Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/macrinabakery","article_published_time":"2017-03-05T21:47:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-03-06T05:05:10+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png"}],"author":"Macrina Bakery","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@macrinabakery","twitter_site":"@macrinabakery","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Macrina Bakery","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/","url":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/","name":"Azeite Esplendido: Gold-Medal Winning Olive Oil from Portugal - Macrina Bakery Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png","datePublished":"2017-03-05T21:47:05+00:00","dateModified":"2017-03-06T05:05:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/28663a52ac289db064726e7e764af1d9"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/40.64.82.136\/blog\/azeite-esplendido-gold-medal-winning-olive-oil-portugal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Screen-Shot-2017-03-02-at-11.14.12-AM.png","width":926,"height":1104},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/","name":"Macrina Bakery Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/28663a52ac289db064726e7e764af1d9","name":"Macrina Bakery"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3143,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions\/3143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.macrinabakery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}