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Olive Oils and Balsamic Vinegars: Anyone else take the plunge?

robrandalgz

robrandalgz

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I went to a local store to get my daughter some varieties of olive oils and vinegars for Christmas. I figured "Hell, I'll get her a good starter variety and see what she likes". $128.00 later My wife and I have a nice little selection, going too. Some of these combinations are absolutely mind blowing good. Anyone else really get into these. This is just the beginning for me, I'm certain.

What's your favorite flavors (stand alone or combo'd)?
 
We have Bertolli olive oil in the house. Not much for vinegar.
 
@robrandalgz - we did same, but not as bad as you. We really like a Black Cherry balsamic and a Peach Balsamic. Pretty nice. As for Oils, we have a Tuscan Olive Oil that tastes nice, especially when dipping bread!
 
got a local supplier for legit Italian olive oil.

picked up some balsamic from a hillside farm in italy when we were there 2 years ago that we are still working through.

they were both notably better than anything we had access to locally. haven't explored much since then.
 
oumagic said:
Next time you are in Sedona, a must-visit place https://divineoliveoils.com/
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That's where we got started, to be honest, Sean. We bought a cinnamon pear balsamic, bluberry balsamic, and garlic olive oil. The lady at the store that I bought from locally said that that store in Sedona used to be owned by someone else and that they got their oils from Italy but it was bought by someone else and now they get all their oils from California. The store I just bought from locally (Pinetop and Gilbert Olive Oil) get their oils from Italy. I don't know how much difference it makes but I'm hooked.
 
I only really cook with olive oil these days; so much healthier for you and we generally can’t taste it in marinades. Bonus, it has a much lower smoking temperature point, so meats on the grill get a nice external sear while the inside is super moist. Only way I’ll grill chicken anymore
 
We live in a very small town where we have almost nothing in terms of shopping and gourmet foods, but weirdly there is a gourmet olive oil store where they make 30-40 different flavored oils & vinegars on site & not cheap. Some of the oil flavors are quite good, some a little too esoteric (chipotle & cayenne pepper) for me.
 
when we were in italy, the quality of the evoo was mind blowing. absolutely delicious.

i think a lot of people know this, but it’s fine to sauté with regular olive oil, not extra virgin. save the extra virgin for sauces, dressings, dipping, etc.
 
Balsamic and a QUALITY Olive Oil are two of my favorite things.
 
So Golftraveldude has wife who doesn't golf but every time I do my thing the push comes back.....So a few years ago we went to Tuscany and stayed in a farmhouse on an agratourismo olive orchard farm....We brought home a couple gallons of it in oil cans....Ha. not bottles. They put it in oil cans....Mostly 1 litre size.
 
Yeah... have all kinds of oils & vinegars around the kitchen. Every time I buy a bigger bottle it seems to go even faster.

I did get in trouble buying cheese yesterday... nothing crazy, about $50 worth only to have my wife remind me, "you know, were not having people over around the holidays? we're gonna have to eat all of this ourselves..." Oh yeah... :cool:
 
Browns7213 said:
We live in a very small town where we have almost nothing in terms of shopping and gourmet foods, but weirdly there is a gourmet olive oil store where they make 30-40 different flavored oils & vinegars on site & not cheap. Some of the oil flavors are quite good, some a little too esoteric (chipotle & cayenne pepper) for me.
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My situation is similar. This isn't a very big town, either. I don't know what is expensive or not for this type of stuff but the bottles we bought ran from $18-22.00 a bottle. We did take advantage of a buy 6 get a 7th bottle free and she threw in some nice stopper/pourers also. And, yeah, they had TONS of flavor options.
 
Queen Creek Olive Mill Valencia Orange Olive oil pared with Organic Fig Balsamic Reduction. Or simply put the latter on some good cheese and pear slices.
 
For general use, we go with Bernoulli. For dressings, marinades, dipping sauces, California Olive Ranch is good.

I agree with @McLovin on Italy. We did out honeymoon in Rome and Ravello. I think I nearly lived on the different breads and olive oils we experienced.

I love a good balsamic reduction over strawberries.
 
We've got a selection of balsamic vinegars as a tabletop staple in a nice wooden holder. House balsamic is always good to try from your local supplier. Else, an espresso kind is really nice.
 
Once you get into the legit balsamics and olive oils, nothing else will do. I like the white balsamics too. There is a lemon/citrusy olive oil from italy that I get and I even use it on plain yogurt with some fruit, nuts and a little honey. So many uses for it.
 
H8tobogie said:
Once you get into the legit balsamics and olive oils, nothing else will do. I like the white balsamics too. There is a lemon/citrusy olive oil from italy that I get and I even use it on plain yogurt with some fruit, nuts and a little honey. So many uses for it.
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You’re going to need to give me recs
 
OITW said:
based on your whiskey reca I don’t think I’d take an oil and vinegar rec 😂
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That wasn’t my recommendation; I bought that at a liquor store having never tried it based on an employee telling me it was great. He lied :eek:

But yes, the olive oil and balsamic store in Sedona was great on my last visit and you could try everything while there. That was before covid, so I am not sure how they handle samples now.
 

We visited here a while ago and picked up these to try out: Garlic Olive Oil, Maple Balsamic Vinegar, Persian Lime olive oil, Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar, Great to mix n match as salad dressings
 
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