Colavita Extra Virgin Olive Oil 68 Fluid Ounce

A long time ago in the quaint hilltop village of Sant’Elia a Pianisi, located in the Molise region of Italy, two small family businesses were born. One family operated a stone mill for crushing homegrown olives used to produce fine extra virgin olive oil. The other family gathered the durum wheat harvest, milled the wheat into semolina grain and ultimately produced fresh pasta for the local market. Over time, both families became experts at their trade, passing their knowledge to the next generation, who in turn did the same. The two families had much in common not only in perfecting time-honored production methods, but also in name. They were both Colavita families. Today, the Colavita olive oil and Colavita pasta companies are still family-owned and operating in the same town of their ancestors. They have since joined with another family-owned company, Colavita USA, and together they have shared the fruits of their respective crafts with American consumers for over twenty years. Three things make olive oil superior to vegetable oils: taste, nutrition and integrity. Taste is the most obvious difference between olive oil and the commercially popular vegetable oils such as corn, soybean and canola oils. These oils are tasteless fats. You would not want to eat a piece of bread dipped in vegetable oil; for the same basic reason, many chefs refrain from adding tasteless fat to the foods they prepare. Olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil, adds a flavor and textural dimension lacking in other oils, making it a suitable substitute for butter and margarine in almost any recipe. Nutritionally, olive oil contains more monounsaturated fat than any of the popular vegetable oils. Extra virgin olive oils are not processed or refined. Extra virgin olive oil is essentially “fresh squeezed” from the fruit of the olive tree, without alteration of the color, taste, and nutrients or vitamins.