Ribatejo-Portugal

This early-harvest bi-cultivar (galega and cobrançosa) is beyond words, stupendous, spicy, peppery, bitter (finishing sweet)  revealing itself slowly, giving a jolt to all foods - salads, grilled stuff, plain-old toast; use it boldly.

A legion of OOJ people are devoted to this incredible substance — cloudy, green, unctuous, billowing with fragrance. From a place that enchants — its mighty river (the Tajo!) from Lisbon, a northeast-up-river undulating valley through our SAOV groves, a leprechaunland - the plummy wines, the sautéed squid and river fish and sea fish, fat and immaculate (the Atlantic is so close), the amazing Portuguese bread, the local tomatoes and peppers and potatoes…  Portuguese olive oil such as this is a European wonderment: no one knows, no one cares, except for those of us who are hip to the fact that Portugal is the open treasure of Europe that only the foodiest hipsters get -  ‘walnut head’ (Cabeço das Nogueiras) is the indigenous Portuguese olive — a pointy-headed artifact of agriculture that should have disappeared decades ago if not for its champions — we who love Portugal and the extraordinary people who are Portuguese. This is food at its most thrilling. People at their most alluring.