Nolans Road - a Stephanie Alexander favourite!

What ingredients do Australia’s top cooks love most? Australian olive oil, says Stephanie Alexander in today’s Epicure section of The Age.

She nominates extra virgin olive oils from Nolans Road and Maggie Beer as her favourites. “When I make my nightly salad from greens gathered in the garden, I don't add anything other than Australian-produced extra-virgin olive oil and a bit of salt. Olive oil is the cornerstone of my cooking and Australia is pouring the most outstanding examples,” she said. (We hear that Stephanie uses our Robust style!)

Why are Australian extra virgin olive oils so good? It’s because our voluntary industry standards are the highest in the world and because our local oil is fresher than imported oils. Freshness really counts with extra virgin olive oil. The closer it is to harvest, the better it tastes and the more health-giving anti-oxidants it has.

Sadly our major supermarkets persist in selling low-grade imported olive oil that have been proven to be mislabeled (claiming to be extra virgin grade when they are not) or adulterated (contain other fruit or vegetable oils, while claiming to be olive oil.) As well, while our Australian standards forbid the use of misleading and meaningless terms such as “Pure”, “Light” and “Extra Light” for our home-grown product, the supermarkets continue to import oils with these labels.

Join Stephanie Alexander and always choose the best Australian extra virgin olive oils available.

Why wouldn’t you!

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