Intro to Spanish Olive Oil | Olive Oil Passion

The Rain in Spain: Spanish Olive Oil

When I was a kid, I saw “My Fair Lady” with Audrey Hepburn. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. And she could sing too. “The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain, of Spain.” I drove my mother nuts singing that song because that’s about the only line I knew.

It wasn’t until years later I found out Audrey had lip synced the song. I was shocked. Just about as shocked as I was to realize Spain produces more olive oil than Italy. Now don’t think I’ve gone around the bend about the subject of olive oil, but, I have to confess, the more I learn, the more fascinated I get.

I had dinner recently at a lovely Spanish restaurant. Not Mexican, but Spanish. Think Continental cuisine, not enchiladas. The restaurant made a big deal about their olive oil. They even list the varieties, all from Spain, that they use on the menu like Miguel and Valentino Unfiltered Extra Virgin.

My date and I had ordered meatballs which was listed on the menu as Albondigas. Just listening to the waiter describe how they were fried in Romanico Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and then how the residual oil was used to make the sauce in which they’re served, made my mouth water. They were just as good as the waiter made them sound.

I interspersed the dinner conversation with little tidbits I’d discovered. Like Martos in Spain claims to the world capital of olive oil because it’s the largest producer in the world. In the United States, though Italian olive oil is better known, premium high quality extra virgin olive oil from Spain commands high prices and accolades.

I wonder if I impressed my date with the statistics I quoted about Spain’s consumption of olive oil which is about the same as Italy–fourteen liters per person per year. That’s a lot of oil. In the U. S., we consume less than a liter per person.

Just as in Italy, olive trees grow on the hillsides. I was kind of disappointed they weren’t cultivated on the plains so the rain in Spain could water them. Oh, well.

Iberian olives are usually cured in bring then eaten. There are prized varieties of olives like Arbequina, a little, brown olive grown in Catalonia and Empeltre, a larger olive grown for its high quality oil and also as a table olive.

Ahh. Extra virgin olive oil. From Italy? From Spain? What a nice quandary to have.

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