Make the Olive Oil Connection

Mike Pappas didn’t set out to open a store revolving around olive oil.

“My wife dragged me to a store very similar to this,” he said, laughing. “I used to buy all my oils from the supermarket. Then, as I started tasting different olive oils, I could taste the freshness, and I was able to tell the difference among the oils. And the same thing with the balsamics. Four months to the day that we sat down with our distributor, we were able to open this store.”

Mike partnered with his wife, Susan, and Guillermo and Mona Silva to open True Olive Connection last November. The women are the ones who actually run the store, though Mike was sitting in for Susan the day I visited.

Unique Flavors

One entire wall of the store is stocked with gourmet olive oils along with dispensers and small plastic cups for tasting. True Olive Connection sells some truly unique oils.

For instance, there is a “butter” extra virgin olive oil described as “creamy, smooth, sweet and redolent with the rich flavor of butter.”

“It’s a butter essence oil,” Mike explained. “There’s no dairy in it, and all natural ingredients. Our distributor created the blend and won’t reveal how she made it.”

Mike suggests using it anywhere you would typically use butter, such as for popcorn, seafood, mashed potatoes or rice.

Other flavored oils include basil, chipotle and garlic.

Balsamic vinegars are also infused with different flavors—blackberry ginger, cinnamon pear, dark chocolate, fig and tangerine.

Perfect Pairings

Mike said they can help customers with pairings of different olive oils and vinegars.

"For instance, for a nice afternoon or spring day salad, you can use the pomegranate balsamic vinegar with the lemon-flavored olive oil,” he said. “And if you want to marinate some chicken or steak, use some chipotle oil with the tangerine balsamic.”

Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?

I wondered if, when making the salad dressings, he would suggest adding anything to the olive oil and vinegar. For example, some salad dressings use a dollop of mustard.

“Nope,” Mike said. “These oils and vinegars are so well balanced that they completely complement each other.”

Oil and Vinegar Essentials

Mike gave me a little Oil and Vinegar 101, and I’ll pass what I learned on to you.

Most olive oils will last a year if kept in a cool dry place, but they don’t have to be refrigerated. Oils made with the picual olive (one of the most common olives used for oil) have a longer shelf life, because their polyphenol content is higher.

Polyphenols are natural antioxidants and can give the olive oil certain characteristics such as bitterness, astringency and, as mentioned, longer shelf life. The type of olive, time of picking and method of extraction all contribute to the level of polyphenols in the oil.

The balsamic vinegars at True Olive Connection are aged for 12 or 18 years, except for the white balsamic, which is a younger balsamic made with white wine vinegar instead of red. Some balsamics have a second process where different flavors are fused with the vinegar, such as the tangerine and lemon mentioned earlier.

You’ll see the True Olive Oil Connection label on all the bottles, but the olive oils come from all over the world, including Tunisia, France, Spain, Italy and Greece, and all the balsamic vinegars are from Modena, Italy.

The store also carries Olivella personal care products, specialty spices and salts, pasta, olives, garlic, pestos, jams and gift baskets. Mike says they will eventually add bulk olives and gourmet cheeses to their inventory.

Soon, they’ll also be having after-hour wine tastings, pairing wines with foods that use the oils and vinegars. Anyone signed up on the business website will be invited.

True Olive Connection is a cook’s true delight. Check it out next time you’re downtown, and have fun infusing your foods with these wonderful products.