Extraordinary Food of Distinctive Quality
“Working there [in the olive grove] is a ‘lesson in humility….’ How many generations have walked among those trees? And how many will walk there after me?’” —The Art of Eating, a quote by Jean-Benoit Hugues, producer of CastelineS extra virgin olive oil in Provence, France. For many of us around the world, summer is…
“The company is 115 years old and sometimes you literally feel the weight, the call, and the challenge of those who ran the company before us,” says Giovanni Bianchi, grandson to Pio Tosini, who currently runs the family business along with his cousin, also grandson to Pio, Nicola Tosini. Recently, Giovanni and I conducted an…
You know me, I like to start with a little history–brief, I promise! Parmigiano Reggiano, as the name suggests, is a cow’s milk cheese first produced in the Duchy of Parma, an area that lies between the small Italian villages of Parma and Reggio Emilia. As the name doesn’t suggest, this cheese originated in farming…
Malt vinegars have become linked–if not exclusively, primarily–to fish-and-chips over the years. And it’s true: a dash, or a douse, if you prefer, is an essential and delicious enhancement to fish-and-chips. However, the times, they are a’ changin’ for malt vinegars. And a good, artisanal malt vinegar like Artisan Malt Vinegar? Winner of Taste of…
There are four versions in the Les Moulins Mahjoub “Family of Harissas” and when my samples arrive in the mail one afternoon, you bet I tear right into the box! I decide to pop open the Organic Tunisian Baklouti Harissa. I can smell deep notes of red pepper immediately–and the color of the smooth harissa…
The half-wheels of Moncedillo Original and Red cheese sit on a wooden cutting board on my countertop at home… …I putter around my apartment for a bit, letting the cheese come up to room temperature. I slice a small wedge of each and place them completely unadorned on a small white plate. I pour a…
“To refer to Mahón-Menorca cheese is to speak of dedication, tradition and respect for the environment, culture and customs from Menorca Island.” –Quintana family, master cheese ripening affinadores. First, a quick geography lesson and run-down on Mahón cheese. Mahón is the capital and port of Menorca, Spain, the most northerly of the Balearic Islands–and little…
Much of the olive industry is doing whatever it takes to get those olives from the tree to your table as quickly as possible, but there is one family-run farm taking the time–and the salt–to do it right. Les Moulins Mahjoub has been using “traditional food preservation techniques of the Mediterranean” for over three generations.…
On January 28th, 2019 we hosted Ari Weinzweig, author and co-founder of Zingerman’s, to share his thoughts from his newly-released pamphlet, “The Art of Business.” We featured a live cracking and tasting of a wheel of 30-month old Valserena Parmigiano Reggiano, wine tasting, and more! Ari shared his latest thinking on business, art, and how…
Les Moulins Mahjoub: creating a one-of-a-kind Southern Mediterranean olive oil, all by hand, with a rich history of Berber tradition …If you know [the] efforts [that] must be made to achieve an authentic first cold press [olive oil] in its supreme mystery, [then you can] rejoice the soul of the oil master.” —Majid Mahjoub of…