The 2023 SA Olive Awards were held at the beautiful Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl on Friday, September 8th. A panel of local and international judges thoroughly evaluated all 82 entries from 32 producers of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO).

 

You can cook food at high temperatures – and even fry – using Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO).  Indeed, one should be encouraged to do so when also considering the health benefits of EVOO. This is just one myth surrounding Extra Virgin Olive Oil that SA Olive can categorically dispel along with a few other common misconceptions.  

 

Finding the ideal present is never simple. Birthdays come around every year, so even if you discover something wonderful one year, you might mess it up the following. Then there is Mother’s Day. What about Christmas? Valentine’s Day? All of it is too much! 

 

There’s no doubt about it, cupcakes are definitely the coolest and trendiest food item to serve at modern-day dinner parties, family picnics, high tea affairs and wedding parties. Cake bakers and pastry chefs are pulling out all the stops to up their cupcake game. I had my fair share of some of the finest cupcakes while on holiday in London. The Hummingbird Bakery in Portobello is renowned for its sweet delights and although their cupcakes don’t come cheap, they are one hundred percent worth it!

 

As England is getting ready to celebrate with the Queen as she will be marking the 70th year of her reign on 6 February 2022, Her Royal Highness has released her own line of condiments which are made from the ingredients grown on her Sandringham estate.

 

It turns out that humans have been munching on popcorn for much longer than previously thought. Scientists have uncovered fossilized cobs indicating that people in northeastern Peru were popping kernels as early as 4,700 B.C. — about 1,000 years earlier than previous evidence suggested. That precedes Orville Redenbacher by more than 6,500 years) But popcorn is not the only contemporary food with origins in the ancient world. Here are five other favorite foods with ancient origins.

 

Olives must be cured before they can be eaten. Anyone who has accidentally  bitten into a raw olive knows this. You can start your very own home ‘curing process.’ Cured olives should have an attractive appearance, a pleasant taste, a firm but not hard texture and an adequate shelf life. Starting the process with a high quality, fresh olive fruit is essential; successful curing further depends on the curing technique, care applied and hygiene of the process.

 

In countries where eating olives is comparatively new, it is important to have a benchmark for gauging the quality of a table olive. Consumers should be aware of what to look for in a good quality, tasty table olive. Highlighting these attributes will create awareness about the excellent local products that are available and protect consumers from being served second rate products, which is unfortunately something to which they have become accustomed for far too long.

 

What could be surprising to many people is that there are indeed many vegan chocolates around for those who want to enjoy chocolate without having to worry about any animal products being used in their creation. As a matter of fact, most dark chocolates are vegan because they are made up of cocoa and coerce butter which both derived from the cocoa plant. What makes chocolate classified as non-vegan, however, is that dairy products are added to the pure chocolate to make it into milk chocolate.

 

Although the colour of olive oil may play a role in a consumer’s choice, the quality of olive oil is unrelated to its colour because it’s all about taste and harmony.  To find a high quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil, seek out a predominantly “fruity” aroma (green or ripe olive fruit, or hints of fruit such as apple, banana, citrus, passion fruit, forest fruits, or fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, greens, artichokes, or fresh cut grass.