Things I Discovered: Evo3 Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil

Everyone Else is Normal's Siobhan is back this month with her Things I Discovered post and she's given us a really special mention following on from our Nectar Savvy adventures. Whilst we didn't win the search for Nectar's Savviest family, it still felt a huge privilege being one of the 8 finalists (as well as being jolly hard work). Whilst at times I have questioned myself about just how savvy it was putting so much effort into something with so little in return (a handful of nectar points and a rather useless digital camera), when I see posts like Siobhans and the lovely feedback we've had from friends and family, I realise that it really has been a worthwhile experience.

I also want to re-blog the recipes I came up with for the Recipe week challenge on this blog so that I have a permanent record of them (as I haven't written them down anywhere else) so look out for those as I was really out of my comfort zone creating those recipes and yet I'm so pleased with how they turned out.

Anyway back to the topic of 'Things I Discovered'. This month we've got a bit of a food theme going on and in particular, olive oil related.

A few months ago, we took part in a challenge to create a Greek inspired Salad dressing and were delighted to find out that our 'Salad Skewers and Evo3 inspired dressing' was picked by Evo3 to be the winning recipe and so I won myself a bottle of this amazing olive oil.

I was sooo pleased because bizarrely enough I had always wanted to win some olive oil (don't ask me why but it is just one of those things that I'd wanted to win). I've also got soap on my wishlist of things to win - again rather strange but true!

But when I actually got to taste it - I was totally amazed because it tasted nothing like any olive oil that I'd tasted before. Being from a single source and having a provenance that can be totally traced, meant that this was such a true and pure olive oil and you could just taste the flavour of it so well.

It made me realise just how poor the other olive oils that I'd been using until now must be. I started to find things online that explained just why this might be. And after seeing how just by packaging the oil in places like Italy (even if the oil is not produced there) and then exporting it, some olive oils can then appear to be Italian olive oil. So that's why it is so great that Evo3 is sourced not just from a single country (Greece) but from a single family estate too (in Lesvos).

With Evo3's social responsibility credentials (Evo3 plants a tree in a deforested area for every bottle sold), and unique taste, I can't see myself switching back to any other olive oil. Evo3 can be bought online from Amazon, and it comes in a huge 750ml bottle which lasts ages. So although it might seem a little pricey at first, when you consider that this is a larger bottle size than other olive oils that I have bought in the past AND it is amazing quality, then it really is good value considering what you are getting.

I was so blown away by the taste of this Evo3 Olive Oil, that I decided to do a taste test with the rest of the family. When my bottle of Evo3 arrived, I had a couple of other brands of Olive Oil in the cupboard so I thought I would see if anyone could tell the difference. I didn't tell them which was which. We dipped some bread into it to taste.

They ALL loved the Evo3 olive oil the best and were also amazed at just how different it tasted to what they always thought olive oil tasted like. It is just so fresh, fruity and distinctly not like other olive oils. I certainly won't be going back to another olive oil again.

Whilst Evo3 has only recently launched in the UK (hence mainly sold via Amazon and a few other select retailers), internationally it boasts many taste awards in the Olive Oil industry. I've signed up to receive Evo3's newsletters and so keep seeing news of their many well deserved awards. You can also follow them on facebook and on twitter to stay up-to-date.

If nothing else, I'd recommend reading their story and finding out a little more about them. I love coming across real gems of products like this which have come about from someone's passions and dreams about making the world a better place.

I haven't been asked to write any of this - but have done so because tasting an olive oil that is so different from others is like having found out a special secret that I think everyone deserves to know.

I was going to include an easy Ciabatta recipe using the Evo3 olive oil but this blogpost has got so long already, that will have to be done separately. The other foodie product I've discovered to give a quick mention to is Dukkah mix which I found at Waitrose. Dip a piece of bread in Evo3 olive oil and then into the Dukkah spice mix - perfect!

If you've discovered anything new this month (doesn't have to be food related), pop over to Everyone Else is normal and let Siobhan know.