Chaffin Family Olive Oil. A finer thing in life.

One of my favorite parts about blogging is how it makes choosing goods so easy for consumers.


What I mean by that is, if there's a "good" out there you're looking for, chances are there is a blogger who has it, or has tried it, and can offer you a recommendation, accordingly.


I am now going to recommend a product that can from such a situation.


Even though this farm has no idea who I am, I want to give them a *shout out* because they produce an amazing product.  And I want YOU to know about it so that you can bask in the deliciousness as well.


Ok?  Ok.  Let's get to it.


I believe that when you cook simple, un-fussy, whole foods - you've GOT TO USE GOOD INGREDIENTS.  I cannot stress the importance of that enough.  When you're stripping the food down to its natural nakedness, it's, like, super important.


It's important, I say.  


Like, super important. 


Let's move on.


Here she is:

Olive oil.  Sweet, succulent, olive oil.


From California.  Just one measly state away from my home as the crow flies, but a world away in climate.  They can grow everything in California, it seems.  Olives, lemons, artichokes... Oh what I would give!


Actually, it was my dear Mother who found this source for olive oil via a blog.  And boy, am I ever glad she did.  Once I tasted the olive oil, it was as if I was tasting olive oil for the first time.  Actually, prior to using this wonderful oil, I'd sort of resigned to the fact that I didn't care for the taste of raw olive oil - it seemed to taste sharp...bitter.  Bleh.  However, I have come to realize, I do love raw olive oil - I do, I DO!  Lawd, do I.  It's so incredibly fresh and smooth - fruity, rich, milky, yet mellow.  It's absolutely divine.

Am I the only one who gets excited about things like this?!


No.  I'm not.  Because my Mom does too.  Thank goodness I'm not alone in this world.


Here's a little blurp from Chaffin Family Orchards website:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil pressed from Mission Olives. Oil is cold centrifuge pressed less than 15 miles from the ranch. The Chaffin Mission Olive trees are in many cases older than 100 years, yielding a superior oil. Our oil olives are harvested late in the season when the flavor is mild and buttery rather than sharp and grassy. Our trees are hand harvested giving back to the workers as well as producing, clean, undamaged fruit. Oil is unfiltered for a full antioxidant profile and stored in a cold, dark environment to maintain quality. Our olives are farmed without using chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides. We use cover crops and rotations of cattle, goats, sheep and chickens to control vegetation and fertilize the orchards. Goats are used to assist in brush removal and pruning rather than tillage and herbicides. Our olive groves provide valuable irrigated pasture for our cattle herd in the summer. Thus yielding two crops rather than one. Oil is pressed within hours of harvest for best taste.

Here's a few other tidbits on olive oil:
All extra-virgin olive oil must be "first, cold-pressed" in order to qualify as extra virgin.  The cold-pressing of the olives ensures that the beneficial goodness inside of them stays un-tainted by the wicked ways of heat and the "first" means that the olives were only pressed one time.  Lower-grade olive oils will typically use high heat and multiple pressings to get as much oil out of the olive as possible, though it will be of lesser quality.


Now, back to the good stuff.


Buying this olive oil in bulk is a very affordable way to purchase such a high quality product.  It costs no more than buying the less-than-tasty generic varieties from the store, when it's all said and done (at least, compared to what we used to pay for olive oil).  Plus, I love knowing that my money goes right into the farmer's pockets.  Click HERE to view their online olive oil shop and to get you some of their goodness.  They've also got great information for storing the bulk olive oil, etc.


If you order, tell them I sent you...and that I love them.  And their olive oil.


Just kidding.  You don't have to do that.  They have no clue who I am an anyway.  This relationship is a little one sided.


I simply wanted to tell you this so that you, too, can have the un-explainable joy that comes with such a finely produced product.  I tip me 'ol hat to the Chaffin family for a job well done.


My Mom and I were so excited that while placing our second order, we decided to order a twenty pound bucket of their olives to cure ourselves!  They just arrived tonight, and the anticipation of curing these beauties is so great, I am almost wetting my pants with excitement!  Because, as previously noted, this uncontrollable bodily-function is simply what happens with one said woman gets excited.


When in Rome, I say!  When in Rome, drench everything you eat in delicious olive oil and cure olives.  


That's the good life.