The FOUR SEASONS Silicon Valley may be located right off of Highway 101 but from the terrace of their restaurant, QUATTRO, you would never know it. The natural stone patio, a beautiful farm table set for 14, flowers, Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumni’s great food and carefully chose wines all contributed to transporting a group of journalists to Tuscany, not East Palo Alto. The purpose of the gathering? To introduce us to the very special MANNI Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
The MANNI Olive Oil story begins with Armando Manni, the award winning Italian film director, who established his company in 2001. His goal is to produce a fine extra virgin olive that is stable and high in antioxidants. He has achieved his goal and is in the enviable position of deciding which restaurants may use his product. QUATTRO and FRENCH LAUNDRY are among them. The olive oil is available on-line and is shipped directly from Tuscany via Federal Express. Expensive? Yes. But as Armando said “The problem is not spending money. The problem is spending money to get what I really want.”
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is good for your health because the polyphenols it contains act as a powerful antioxidant. Most EVOO has 100 to 250 mg. of polyphenols per liter. MANNI EVOO can exceed 450 mg. per liter. MANNI has developed a method to preserve this high level for as long as possible until the day the bottle is opened. The method has been dubbed their exclusive ‘Live Oil’ method of harvesting, pressing and preserving. A bottle is technically preserved until the day it is opened when it comes into contact with oxygen and the polyphenols begin to dissipate.
The ‘Live Method’ involves the following:
-Organic farmed olives from trees on the slopes of Monte Amiata in Southern Tuscany.
-Special patented dark glass that protects the oil from 99.9% of UV rays.
-An inert gas is added in the bottle to prevent oxidation that would be caused by the air trapped in the bottle.
-A recyclable synthetic stopper, free of glues and PVC, seals the bottle. Natural cork can contaminate the oil.
-Small bottles (100ml/3.4 oz.) are used since the oil begins to deteriorate the moment it comes in contact with air. Smaller amounts get used up more quickly. This is not a cooking oil but rather a fine finishing oil.
-Testing and more testing every four months. This olive oil is created ‘within the context of a scientific research project in collaboration with the Department of Pharmaceutical Science, University of Florence’. The University tests the oil every four months to check polyphenol content. For example, testing of the same batch of olive oil in March 2007 and September 2007 showed a loss of only one milligram of total polyphenols. The results are made public on MANNI’s website. They are the only olive oil producer to do this.
Before dinner, Armando led us in a tasting the Per Mio Figlio (For My Child) and Per Me (For Me) extra virgin olive oils.
The method:
-Glasses used for olive oil tasting are blue or black so that you are not influenced by the color of the oil.
-Grasp the glass in the palm of your hand so that the olive oil warms up.
-Cover the top of the glass with your other hand and slowly swirl for a few seconds.
-Raise the glass to your nose, remove your hand and inhale.
-Take a sip of oil and suck in air through your mouth making lots of noise.
-Swish the olive oil around your mouth. The spice that you feel at the back of your throat comes from the polyphenols.
Of course, my favorite part of the tasting was the chocolate/olive oil pairing. Why pair chocolate and olive oil? And is it a mutually beneficial pairing? Armando explained why it is. In its simplest form chocolate is made up of cacao solids, cacao butter, vanilla and sugar. Cacao butter is very fatty and coats the tongue. MANNI extra virgin olive oil decreases the fat. How? The 5% polyphenol dries the mouth and allows the cacao flavor to come through. It works in the same way as sipping a glass of wine throughout a meal: the action of cleaning and opening the mouth. Quite a revelation when you would think just the opposite would happen. Your mind tells you that sipping olive oil would coat your tongue and prevent you from tasting the chocolate when in fact it works as a palate cleanser.
Treat yourself to a bottle of MANNI olive oil and try this yourself. The oils can be purchased at QUATTRO. Chef Cartumini has both the 2005 and 2006 vintages available - both the 'Per Me' and 'Per Mio Figlio' for $80.00 a bottle which means you can purchase just one! If you can't get to QUATTRO it can be ordered on-line and the minimum order is five boxes (each containing two bottles).
