Paula Garcia knows a thing or two (or ten, twenty, a hundred!) about good olives and their oils. She’s a fourth generation olive grower and her family has been harvesting those green gems for decades now. Interestingly enough they’ve only recently begun producing and selling their own product…previously harvests were sold to oil co-ops that didn’t speak to their true potential until the Garcias took the reins themselves. O-Med stands for many things, among them being small yield, which you’ll come to know is the best way to appreciate the full flavor of these olives. Nathan from our staff was able to talk with Paula and find out why O-Med is a philosophy, not just a family business.
PFW: For starters I just wanted to say how happy we are to be carrying such fantastic olive oils from such a historically-rich region as Granada, Spain. As a family-owned business operating smaller olive groves in the southern region of your country, what would you say O-Med values most through your oil production?
O-MED: I would like to say as well, that for us it is a great pleasure to be present in one of the most emblematic shops in Chicago...I still remember the first time we did a tasting in this shop. O-Med [will] always be grateful, as Provenance trusted our products since the beginning. Regarding your question: in O-Med we value first raw quality.. As you know all of our products are early harvest when the olives are still very green.. We sacrifice quantity of olive oil for obtaining a great and fresh olive juice..We want to [show] consumers of O-Med our passion for food, and more over for olive oil. We like that the consumers see olive oil not just an ingredient. But far more than this, it’s really a product that can make a dish!
PFW: With so many commercially-produced olive oils on the market, many consumers are oftentimes left with bottles of bland, flat, unexciting versions on their pantry shelves. One thing we love so much about O-Med oils is the concentration of aromas and flavors in your bottles…is this because you limit the amount of product you eventually release to the market?
O-MED: The key of our production method is the early harvest. As you know an extra virgin olive oil is a ‘juice of olive’. As it happens with other juices… such as an orange juice... the fresher the fruit the fresher the juice… for the olive oil is the same. We try to really find the optimal point of ripeness of the olive to obtain the best juices of olive! To obtain complex aromas and flavors, it is very important as well to control two parameters during the production; temperature and time. As you know, all components of the aromas are thermolabil, meaning, sensitive to temperature. So it’s is important to work always under low temperatures and as quick as possible, so the fruit is freshest as possible.
PFW: While O-Med prides itself on being a young, dynamic company, there is certainly a notable sense of skill and craft in your olive oils...prior to founding the business, was olive oil something that was always made in your family?
O-MED: Our family has been in the olive oil business since generations, actually we are the 4th generation. Until 2005, we controlled everything but the processing of the olives... the actual production of olive oil. My dad used to sell the olives to a cooperative, so up to then we could not control anything on the production! In cooperatives your olives are treated the same as they treat them for other producers...it is difficult to guarantee high quality. The dream of my father was to be able to control everything, even the production. Having been grown up surrounded of olive trees, he knew all about it...and he just needed the tools for it!
PFW: We make it a point to carry products made by smaller, artisanal producers for a variety of reasons. One of them being that there is always a story worth sharing when we offer a product that was made by people who believe large-scale, commercially made products often lack character, history, complex flavors or quality. Being small producers yourselves, why do you feel it is important for your family business to operate on the scale it chooses to be at? Do you feel O-Med wouldn’t be as successful as it is if it were a big-box, large commercial producer?
O-MED: O-Med is not just a company, for us it is a tradition, a passion! We fight to educate people not only about our olive oil, we would like to see expansion and the cultivation of a culture that uses and has knowledge of extra virgin olive oils. O-Med produces only a limited quantity of its extra virgin olive oils (Arbequina and Picual). If we choose to produce massively, it would be impossible to keep having the aromas and flavors as we do now. O-Med is for our family like our little spoiled child. We want it to be in the best hands as possible, stores and retailers that care about quality and the story which is behind the product.
PFW: Shortly after the actual olive harvest out in the groves, they’re taken to the nearby mill for processing (in under an hour and a half no less, impressive!). From there in the groves, what are the next steps taken to get your product into bottles?
O-MED: one of the biggest enemies of extra virgin olive oil is oxygen. We bottle by order and until then we keep our olive oils in tanks [to avoid] oxidation. In this way, we can assure to our clients that the extra virgin olive oil is as fresh as just harvest.
PFW: One of the varietals you use in your oils, Arbequina, offers fruity, grassy aromas with notes of banana leaf and green apple skin…complex oil indeed! How or why did you decide on the specific olive varietals you use in O-Med products?
O-MED: AS you know Spain was the first producer of olive oil in the world. It produces 60% of the whole production worldwide. Within it all Spanish production is concentrated in the south of Spain, in Andalucía, in the cities of Jaén, Granada and Córdoba. Among all the varieties in Spain, two of the most characteristics varieties are Picual and Arbequina for sure…That is why we decide to choose them to produce our mono-varietal olive oils. As wines, depending on the olives varieties the olive oils are so different...In this case Picual and Arbequina are totally different in itself... Arbequina is soft, fruity and mild, whereas Picual is spicy and bitter with a great balance and complexity, both of them very different, and able to satisfy the most exigent palates.
PFW: With your October harvest coming up soon, what sort of preparations does O-Med take in the olive groves or in the production mill? How does an early harvest affect the flavor or quality of your oils?
O-MED: For obtaining premium quality olive oils it is important to have an early harvest…The greener the olives the fresher the juice. Before that you need to prepare the groves, irrigate and so on…It is very important that all the machinery is impeccable to start with the production.
PFW: With olive oil being one of the cornerstones of the Mediterranean Diet, the benefits of using it go far beyond just flavor and versatility in the culinary world. Are there health benefits to be enjoyed from O-Med oils in addition to their complex flavor profiles, such as essential vitamins and minerals found naturally in olives?
O-MED: Exactly, although olive oil is a fat, and we have to take care of the consumption, it is the healthiest fat that exists, proven [to fight] such illnesses as cancer. The supplies of vitamins and antioxidants is very important!
PFW: Having talked with several other smaller producers that we’re so fortunate to represent at Provenance, it so often sounds like they do what they do because, quite simply, they love it and couldn’t see themselves doing much else. Working in olive groves as a family, doing everything by hand on an artisanal scale, tending the soil yourselves, carefully selecting each olive on a branch…all sounds to me like a chosen labor of love. What inspires you and your family to work each and every day with such attention to detail and strong work ethic?
O-MED: For us O-Med is a philosophy! A project that we have created with our own hands and big efforts. We could not be more proud when we see one of our bottles on the shelves of stores like Provenance. For us it is very important to work where you have passion, and O-Med fulfills all of it!
