Aussie oil in a box
Beverly Stephen reports.
| More Front Burner in this issue |
| Top of the tower |
| Farewell to a giant |
| Tuiles on wheels |
| Lemongrass and ant eggs |
| Sad good-bye |
| Egg safety |
| Gastronomic U |
New York City—If it works for wine, why not for olive oil? So thought fledgling Australian olive oil father and son producers Howard and Jeremy Meltzer when it came time to package their liquid gold intended for foodservice. "We use casks which were originally invented in Australia for wine," Jeremy explains. "An internal bladder in the cask collapses as the oil is used, so no oxygen, which makes the oil rancid, can enter." A spigot, adjustable for several speeds of release, makes for easy dispensing. In addition, the casks are recyclable. Buttery complex Yellingbo Grove comes in a 10 liter cask (about $10 a liter); unfiltered Yellingbo Grove Single Estate is available only in a four liter cask (about $15 a liter). The Chef's Warehouse is the U.S. distributor.
The family venture started three years ago when Howard Meltzer, a retired lawyer, planted 2,500 olive trees in Yellingbo, Victoria, in the Yarra Valley wine region. Today they are exporting Yellingbo oils (for retail and foodservice), with labels bearing an Aboriginal-style dot painting of the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater bird that flocks in the nearby Yellingbo Conservation Reserve, exclusively to the U.S. market.
The family contributes 5 percent of its profits to the Jasmine Foundation, an organization they founded to benefit children orphaned by South Asia's 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, which nearly killed Jeremy's two vacationing sisters.
On a recent visit to New York City, suave and handsome Jeremy, who is also a Latin jazz singer, did everything from visit chefs and media with his olive oil to sweet talk Martha Stewart on her Valentine's Day TV program.
For info: www.yellingbogold.com.au.
