Make The Most Of Your New Harvest Morocco Gold – Tips From The Pros
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is known to be one of the most versatile cooking ingredients you can buy. It can be used to roast, dip or drizzle and opening your first bottle of the new harvest is a real treat.
At Morocco Gold, we only ever sell extra virgin olive oil from the latest harvest which means its unique fruity flavour with hints of almond and herbs is at its richest at this time of year.
That makes Extra Virgin Olive Oil an excellent addition to your cooking essentials and a go-to product for many top chefs.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil Helps Crown A Masterchef Winner
Recently crowned Masterchef 2021 winner Tom Rhodes’ winning menu included a mouth-watering Japanese inspired lemon tart served with olive oil ice cream.
Famous chefs have always been discerning about the ingredients they have used in their dishes. None more so than the type of olive oil used and especially extra virgin olive oil. We love to share our passion for Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil as not only a lifestyle choice for health and wellbeing, also because it tastes wonderful.
Always interested in the view of celebrity chefs who use extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold. Here are the thoughts of some of those famous chefs.
“I love fresh citrus and always keep lemons, limes, and oranges on hand; they come in handy for spritzing up quickly grilled meats, seafoods, and vegetables, especially when followed up by a quick drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.”
Emeril Lagasse
“I always have a good quality extra virgin olive oil. A cheap quality oil will end up cheapening your dishes. And I love sweetening my dishes with maple syrup. It has a bit of a bitter kick at the end that works wonderfully in savoury dishes.”
Nadia Giosia
“I’m particularly fond of boned chicken breasts with a little garlic under the flesh and cooked in a casserole for 40 minutes with a jar of olives, some cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil.”
Maeve Binchy
“I always have parmigiano-reggiano, extra virgin olive oil and pasta at home. When people get sick, they want chicken soup; I want spaghetti with parmesan cheese, olive oil and a bit of lemon zest. It makes me feel better every time.”
Isabella Rossellini
“You gotta have good olive oil. You should have a cooking olive oil and you should have a finishing olive oil, like an extra-virgin olive oil.”
Emeril Lagasse
“I use a lot of spices, fresh veggies and fruit, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, avocado, soybeans and organic ingredients as often as possible. We need fat in our diets and using the healthier fats is key.”
Todd English
Why is our Extra Virgin Olive Oil so special?
The Morocco Gold olive growing area is around 200 kms and about 4 hours’ drive north east from Marrakesh in the wonderfully picturesque Taounza Valley which is part of the Beni Mellal Region. This elevated valley lies in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains with altitude varying between 700m and 900m along its 40kms. This creates its own micro-climate and terroir with temperatures generally 2c below the coastal plain in the daytime and 5c at night-time. These differences create unique high-quality olive growing conditions which are concentrated in the eastern half of the valley.
Harvesting olives re-enacts an event that has taken place for centuries. The farmers and their families have nurtured their olive trees and their harvest with care and attention for generations.
Fruiting sizing and assessment of the maturity of the olive is carried out prior to harvesting. The planned date of harvest is agreed based on the maturity of the olives, also the generations of experience of the olive farmers. Morocco Gold olives are hand-harvested early in the season when the fruit is young.
Our aim at Morocco Gold is to achieve the optimum balance between the level of polyphenols present in our extra virgin olive oil and its taste. Research has shown that high levels of polyphenols deliver the numerous health benefits to our heart, cardiovascular system, digestive system as well as to our cognitive functions.
Polyphenols also produce the distinctive ‘peppery’ sensation when tasted, which in some olive varieties can feel somewhat ‘aggressive’ if you are not used to it. The wonderful thing about Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is that even with its high polyphenol count it retains its fresh fruity flavour without being too ‘aggressive’ to produce a wonderfully balanced, health rich extra virgin olive oil. The following shows the importance of harvest timing.
Morocco Gold olives are normally pressed around the end of October / November when the fruit is still young but the polyphenol levels are at their optimum. This does however have a huge impact on olive oil yield. The olives are smaller, the amount of oil yielded is much lower, but the quality is at its best.
Olives picked later in the harvesting season will produce more oil, however this will be of a lower quality. This is one of the reasons why high-quality extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold is slightly more expensive.
