🇪🇸 García de la Cruz from Toledo Spain

García de la Cruz is a premium olive oil produced in Toledo, Spain, and founded in 1872. They advertise as one of the oldest oil mills in Spain (is that good or bad for production?) and making a premium oil. It is interesting to peruse online content about a producer, because you hear different things. One woman touted the company as being entirely managed by women. That cannot be the case if the current CEO runs the company with his brother.  However, it is not entirely false. The history of the company has several periods when women were running the show.

The producer is located in La Mancha, in the foothills of the Toledo Mountains. The farm is 400 acres and predominantly (90%) Cornicabra olives that thrive in a harsh environment. This oil is advertised as a blend of four olives (Cornicabra, Picual, Arbequina and Hojiblanca), but I suspect it is predominantly Conicabra. And yes, this is the same La Mancha made famous in Don Quixote! I wonder if the character ate a lot of olive oil. I need to read the novel again.

I am starting to notice common branding for olive oil producers, and it is hard to distinguish between what is authentic, and what more might be a conglomerate business hiding behind a wholesome marketing strategy. I assume the first for most of these producers because (indeed) the companies have rich histories and are family owned. What does the marketing look like? It is many beautiful pictures of orchards and a line of people (family) standing in front of a stone wall. It is messages of authenticity, and shots of olives being held gingerly in a hand. In reality it might be a bunch of farm workers whacking at a tree with something that looks like a stick to make the olives fall onto a net, gathering them up, and straight into a factory and production line. I think hitting the tree to make them fall is called "vareo," but I cannot find a good reference. Did anyone ask how the trees feel about this? 

I enjoyed watching the small documentary made by the Olive Oil Times (below). The CEO (Fernando Garcia de La Cruz) emphasizes the importance of the quality of the soil, and preserving the land for future generations. There is a lot of pride and history in these stories. I like listening to Castilian Spanish because the "s" sound is more of a "th." And no, I do not think the "king with a lisp" story is true. It is just linguistic variation, possibly influenced by the Basque language that has derivatives in s.

The Amphora

They sell an early harvest special edition that looks like it comes in an Egyptian sarcophagus for a cat, but the page says that it is a "handcrafted ceramic amphora inspired by how olive oil traveled across the Mediterranean centuries ago." Is that really true? Was it economical or efficient to have a tapered bottom that could not be placed flat or stacked? The answer is yes, and in fact the bottoms were more pointy, and (likely) to be slotted into ships, or secured in sand. The tops were often wide brimmed to allow for pouring, and the handles were for moving or securing with ropes. My association with mummification is likely because they actually were used sometimes for burial after cremation [ref]. Another interesting fact is that they can be used by Maritime archaeologists to help date and geographically locate a ship, and they preserve contents so well you can often find they are still filled. They were apparently so cheap to make that they were destroyed upon arrival, and in fact there is a mound in Rome, Monte Testaccio, that was created from a pile. They were constructed like pottery, with the interior coated with resin to prepare for liquid contents. I suspect the resin and contents (oil) made them hard to recycle. I like how the term sounds. It indeed is very Greek, and (to me) is a bit elegant, or like the name of a goddess. It is derived from amphiphoreus/amphoreus "carried on both sides" and that is a combination of "amphi-" (on both sides) and "pherein" (to bear/carry). It makes sense. Lastly, amphorae indeed influenced the similar looking designs we see in other cultures. I wonder if I had handles if I would be carried around or hugged more? Wait, what about arms? 

And now, the review! I enjoyed having this oil. It had a high quality that distinguished it from the average of the set I had on hand from March through April. There is a quality of oil that I don't know how to describe aside from a bit musty, but in a good way. It will give you a tiny bit of burn in the back of your throat, after the fact. The color is more dark golden, and I will need to photograph it in the future. I note this because some oils are a bright, banana yellow. I think I would like to try their early harvest edition. I do not believe myself brave enough to get the small terracotta amphora... yet 😂. One note about Garcia de La Cruz is that the bottle is beautiful. Many olive oils go for a dark glass, often with gold accents, and this is entirely the opposite. The underlying glass is dark, but the plastic covering is highly styled. It is a white bottle with spirals of blue and yellow with a distinct dark yellow screw top. The inner piece is exactly the same as Atlas and Desert Miracle, despite them being from Morocco.

The back is what you might expect. A good olive oil will have the harvest date, and certifications and awards. Wait, is that a Spotify advertisement? The headquarters are technically in Stockholm, and if music can be associated with cooking, it is not a terrible pairing. I will need to learn more about this.

Given the type of olive and ability to tolerate harsh conditions, I would suspect the peppery taste is associated with high content of oleocanthal, which are anti-inflammatory by way of inhibiting COX-1 and COX-2, and have few reported issues with digestion. Subjectively, I can report that eating olive oil, generally, has me feeling very good. My skin, hair, and digestion is better than it has been in a long time. Fat is also delicious!

The Serenity of Orchards

I think I would like to travel to Spain one day, and along with visiting family, see some of these orchards. When I was younger I used to go on long runs and find myself in apple orchards, and sit on a wall or protected by a tree and enjoy an apple. I tried to rationalize that many of them fell to the ground and were eaten by animals anyway. Later in life, I lived in an area that used to be predominantly orchards, and there were apple trees across neighborhoods. The streets would smell strongly of apples, and then they would be littered by them, in literal piles, until they were finally cleaned up. Smell is strongly linked with memory, so I will always associate the smell of apples with memories from that time.

I am new to traveling, and anticipate as I get older taking more (and longer) trips outside of the United States. I do not have preference for what is typically done - a lot of restaurant eating and local attractions. My preference is to disregard time, place trust in myself and my strength to traverse many miles and different conditions, and find myself entirely lost. An olive orchard is on my bucket list.