Season your meals with a splash of California sunshine! Discovered Stonehouse’s California grown & blended incredibly delicious Persian Lime Olive Oil at the Santa Rosa Farmers Market on Saturday. Oh, my goodness! Such delightful FLAVOR.
Came home and promptly drizzled it over a salad of baby spinach greens, fresh pea sprouts (another farm market find), baby carrots, celery, and a Star-King apple along with a generous splash of TJ’s Orange Muscat Champagne Vinegar. Topped it off with our local Clover Dairy’s whole milk organic cottage cheese, pink Alaea Hawaiian sea salt & roasted ground Chipotle pepper from Crescent Moon Farms. YUM!
We have several olive oil vendors, who produce and sell stellar products, at our Saturday market. The Smoked Olive, which I reviewed in last year’s Heirloom Tomato Tasting post wrap up and now, Stonehouse, are two of my favs. And I’m not alone, Stonehouse is ranked #1 of California’s top oils by Food & Wine magazine.
Tasted several of Stonehouse’s items and highly recommend their rich Arbequina Olive Oil. At my appreciative “Mmm,” the vendor commented Arbequina was one of her favs. Turning to get a treasure from behind the curtain in her special products stash, she then offered us a sample of this season’s Olio Nuovo, freshly pressed a couple of weeks ago. VERY tasty. We would have purchased more, but weren’t prepared to spend our day’s farm market budget on olive oil alone.
Later that afternoon, I emailed Stonehouse to ask about some other products… James, their webmaster, highly recommends 2010’s Estate Blend, saying “It is the best olive oil I ever had! They just pressed it a week ago or so, and it is out of this world.“
If you’re planning Holiday Season Gifts for Foodies, you may want to consider some of Stonehouse’s products. Here are items on the top of my list:
~ Stonehouse Arbequina Olive Oil,
225ml (7.61oz): $14 or 500ml (17oz): $20
~ Stonehouse Persian Lime Olive Oil,
225ml (7.61oz): $14 or 500ml (17oz): $20
~ La Tourangelle Walnut Oil* made in the traditional French style from California grown black English Walnuts, 250ml: $11 or 500ml (17oz): $14
~ Stonehouse Olive Oil Soaps, large 5.5oz bars in Lavender, Lemon Verbena, & Natural: $8 each or a Sampler Box of 3: $22.50
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* Sunset magazine’s November 2010 ‘Thanksgving’ issue mentions La Tourangelle Walnut Oil for their Apple-Fennel Salad on pg.94, part of their Guilt-Free and Delicious Sides article. I’ve asked Stonehouse to bring some to market next Saturday, as I’d like to add it to my gourmet pantry supplies.