Tales from the Giantswood: Olive Oil and Crafts

Olive Oyl and Popeye, that takes me back. I used to love watching this cartoon on the television when I was young. I recently spent an afternoon looking at olive oil. Not this Olive, but the genuine oil, and not only looking at it but smelling and tasting it too. Why you might wonder? Well Fortnum and Mason were kind enough to invite me to join their tasting panel to help select the new season oils they will be stocking.

The tastings took place in The Crypt, a wonderfully atmostpheric room.

Over the course of a week, over 130 oils from all over the world were tasted. The entire collection was on display, all carefully numbered.

However, there were no clues as to which we were tasting and we were told to ignore the colour as it would be misleading and when we did taste them this was true, the colour gave no idea as to what it would taste like.

We were given some notes for guidance and the buyers have been studying their subject in depth.

First you have to hold the glass for a few minutes to warm it, keeping your hand on the top so as to trap the aroma. Then lift your hand slightly and take a good sniff. Most smelt of fresh mown grass to me, in varying stages of freshness, although one definitely came across as vanilla!

Next you have to sip the oil and roll it around your mouth to distinguish the flavours. Then finally swallow the oil to taste the bitterness and pepperiness which ideally should be well balanced. The differences between the 12 we tasted that afternoon were immense and varied from the gentle, soft and fruity to the strong and peppery. Some had a long aftertaste and others didn't.

All was quiet in the room as we tasted and made notes on each of the oils, refreshing our palates between with sparkling water and apple. Then as a group we discussed our findings. Although I know everybody tastes and smells things differently I was amazed at just how diverse our opinions were. One oil that I thought particularly bitter and unpleasant, others liked. Descriptions of taste varied from melons, to herbs and artichokes all for the same oil, yet the thing that I found most surprising was that only one oil actually smelt and tasted of olives. That one was my particular favourite and the majority of group rated it highly too so hopefully it will make their final selection of 20 to be stocked.

It was a fascinating afternoon and I was delighted to find a friend was on the panel. Cindy of the Food for Thoughts blog and I first met at Fortnum and Mason back in November at the Making Christmas event.

After the tastings we went up to the First Floor to have a look at the 'Crafting Excellence' exhibition, a celebration of handmade crafts by scholars of the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. The exhibition is on until the 29th July and well worth a visit if you are anywhere near Fortnums, although the store itself is always a pleasure to visit anyway.