Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/560015
www.gourmetnews.com 16 Oli e Aceti • Gourmet News small lots of the highest quality possible. Most olive oil producers use whatever fruit comes off their field in a given year. We partner with several small, family-owned farms, so we can source the best olive oil out there, every season. With a name like Big Paw, we believe in making products with extremely big flavor. Our garlic-infused olive oil has the biggest and most powerful punch out there. GN: Where are your olives grown and processed? BS: All of our olives are grown in Califor- nia's Central Valley and picked and milled that same day. Different regions in Califor- nia produce olives with unique flavor pro- files, so our farms are as far south as Fresno and as far north as Redding. Our growers use a stainless-steel milling process that I believe gives our oil more purity than stone- ground oils. GN: Are your olives Italian or Spanish? What's the difference? BS: Our California Gold is a blend of As- colano, Leccino, and Manzanillo olive oils, which are of Italian descent. These oils have a grassy, almost sweet flavor. Our Early Harvest oil is milled from Greek Koroneiki olives, which has more punch and a slightly bitter aftertaste. GN: What's trending in olive oil today? BS: Our customers use our products just as they would reach for a condiment, like salt and pepper. People are becoming more ed- ucated about olive oil, and are developing a palate that is sensitive to nuances. GN: How have California growers been af- fected by the ongoing drought? BS: Olive trees are pretty resilient, and can take many years of drought. We definitely see a drop in production during dry years, but those dry years also produce a higher- quality fruit. If the drought continues in Cal- ifornia, it could become an issue, as has happened in Spain and other areas in the Mediterranean. We are crossing our fingers for an El Niño winter. GN: Where do your vinegars come from? BS: We partner with a custom vintner in the Napa Valley that uses the Solera method. This method begins with cooking the juice or "must" of high quality wine grapes. The cooked must is aged in a se- ries of oak, cherry, chestnut, ash and ju- niper wood barrels that are left open to allow for evaporation. As the vinegar evaporates, each barrel is topped off with younger vinegar from the previous barrel. Over the years, as it moves down this se- ries of barrels, the vinegar absorbs the fla- vors and aromas of the different types of woods. The result of this aging process is delicious, sweet, and rich balsamic vine- gar with a unique and complex character. We use it as a basis for many of our dip- ping sauces, marinades, and infused bal- samic products. GN: What are your most popular products? BS: Our Late Harvest is very popular as everyday cooking oil, but California Gold is the standard by which our customers judge all others. One of our top sellers for every- day cooking is our Rosemary-Garlic, with the Hot Tuscan a close second. In the vine- gar world, our Mission Fig sells twice as fast as any of our other vinegars. There's nothing else like it available on the market. Our products add savory pizzazz to just about anything. For more information, visit www .bigpawsales.com. GN Big Paw (Cont'd. from p. 1) Appreciation of Fine Balsamic Vinegar Requires Customer Education Charles Bucklin, President of Putney House Trading Inc ., was not planning to become a food importer. But after he and his wife Lynne befriended the Cavedoni family, the owners of the oldest vinegar loft in the Modena region, their new friends talked him into bringing their family's handmade balsamic vinegars to the U.S. market. "It's absolutely fantastic balsamic vinegar," Bucklin says. "Cavedoni Bal- samic was one of only five sofi finalists last year for Outstanding Product Line. That's how good it is." This year, the Cavedoni family launched the San Lorenzo, aged for five years in oak barrels. "Dark, rich, with an incredible fla- vor depth," Bucklin describes it. The San Lorenzo will join a line of 17 different bal- samics. At entry level, there's the White Bianco and the Sigillo Blu, which Bucklin describes a s a "wonderful two-year-old balsamic that's the balsamic you'd use on your salad or on a sandwich." At the other end of the scale, there's the hundred-year- old La Dama. The Cavedoni best seller is Il Caratello, a three-year-old balsamic aged in oak and chestnut barrels for a flavor that layers on the palate with a hint of sweet- ness, then evolves with a very satisfying tangy finish. Botte Piccola, another Cave- doni best seller, is a finishing balsamic that you might use on finer foods and cheeses or even on ice cream and gelato. The mak- ers call it "one the finest examples of tra- ditional Italian culinary artisanship." Gusto Tartufo is a balsamic infused with black truffles that 's been aged for three years in oak barrels. Unlike truffle oil, Gusto Tarfufo will not go rancid and is used as a condiment. "That's actually quite special," Bucklin says. "It goes without saying that Cavedoni produces a balsamic vinegar for every culinary purpose, taste and price point." Seven generations of the Cavedoni fam- ily have been making balsamic vinegars in their acetaia since 1860, using Trebbiano and Lambrusco grapes from their own vineyard in the Castelvetro municipality of the Italian province of Modena. The family still controls every aspect of production, beginning with the careful selection of the ingredients, followed by precise mixing all the way through the bottling. As the vine- gar ages, its flavor grows denser and its vis- cosity increases, until it becomes a sweetly complex concoction that you won't find in the supermarket, Bucklin says. "When you taste the authentic product, it's spectacu- lar," he says. "There is a whole world out there of serious balsamic enthusiasts, which is wonderful. It's a whole category into itself.... It's a matter of educating the public. When people are aware of what genuine balsamic vinegar really is, they seek it out." GN