INFUSION

Our flavored extra virgin olive oils are flavored using extra virgin olive oil based flavorings. (Most companies use a canola oil based flavoring). The flavorings are basically extracts and essential oils made from plant based product, therefore are “natural.” The flavorings are added to the oil and stirred.

One question that usually comes up is about our butter flavor: Are we using actual butter? No. How is it “natural” then? Scientists figured out that a molecule called diacetyl is what gives butter it’s butter flavor. They can make this artificially, but they can also obtain it naturally from many other sources in nature. Sweet potatoes, for instance, have a high concentration of diacetyl. Our flavor manufacturer has a proprietary (secret) process by which they extract this substance from sweet potatoes, hence, “natural” butter flavor. 

All of the flavorings are natural, vegan and allergen free. They use a process of combining different components to mimic flavors. There is no cheese in our Parmesan flavoring, no meat in our bacon flavoring, etc. 

The flavorings for the balsamic vinegars are the same concept but with an alcohol base, like vanilla extract for instance. However, our chile, spicy mango and spicy orange also have chile powder in them so they will have a grainy texture and need to be shaken up as well. Our white sesame ginger balsamic has black sesame seeds in it. All of our other flavors are strictly liquid (alcohol) based.

Our flavored pure olive oils are in a different section on the products list ordering page. These are flavored differently than the extra virgin olive oils. You’ll notice they are all spicy flavors (chile, chipotle, jalapeño, habanero, etc.). 

To get the best flavor, these are created by actually soaking dried chilies in the pure olive oil for a period of three-to-eight weeks depending on the flavor. Some of the flavors in this section can also be blended with the flavored extra virgin olive oils – i.e. chile-lime olive oil is half chile (pure) and half lime (extra virgin).

There are some olive oils in the marketplace that use another method. Some people call it “fused,” or can be called “whole fruit crushed.” This process is where they throw fresh lemon, limes, oranges, basil, etc. in the hopper with the olives while they are being crushed. While this may seem more romantic, there is very little control over the resulting product. You really don’t know how it is going to taste until it is done. 

This can also only be done one time per year (per hemisphere) resulting in difficulty in trying to determine how much will be needed to be produced for the following year’s inventory requirements; you either run out or have too much. Consistency from one batch to another is a huge problem with this method because the added fruits or chilies can vary in flavor (and strength of flavor) from harvest to harvest. 

The flavors are best when they are the freshest which is why we make everything to order. We also have our supplier make our flavorings for us “to order” as well, ensuring the freshest possible flavors for you, our customer. This system of adding the fresh flavorings provides availability all year round and consistent flavor from batch to batch.