Patate e Peperoni Recipe, Forbes, & December
December in Calabria
Ciao! Harvest has come to a close. And as usual, an overwhelming sense of relief, joy, and contentment mixed with exhaustion have set in. Like us, Calabria seems to be moving a little slower. She's settling into her wintertime slumber, void of tourists, where she will stay until late spring. It's time for trimming trees, the foliage turns the most beautiful silvery green with new growth sprouting out tiny bright green jets.
We love this time of year in Calabria! It's so quiet (compared to the loud summers), we get all the towns to ourselves, and we get to see some incredible thunderstorms. Although, the downside to that is our water and power regularly turns off. It's worth it.
Calabria, being a red zone, is currently on a lockdown. We are fortunate our work takes us into the olive groves on a regular basis, however, we do miss the simple pleasures of going to our favorite bar in the next town over and taking day trips to Sila (a mountain region in Calabria) where we're able to fill glass water bottles with fresh mountain water, forage for mushrooms, and stop on the side of the road because 'Lina saw some fresh herbs over there'. We miss the vegetable carts, the cute cows blocking traffic, and the forests. We also miss our favorite restaurant and the giant slab of prosciutto we know is sitting in their wine cellar.
Currently, in Calabria, we're experiencing severe weather. There have been two floods so far with one flooding our box manufacturer's warehouse (!!!). A bridge was taken out and some of the flat properties are still waterlogged. We hope their olive trees will recover. Our properties are fine, earlier this year we added a new drainage system which has allowed the water to exit. We've planted some new trees bringing our capacity up to 100%. The baby trees look really happy, we talk to them regularly (see Instagram) and we can't wait to watch them grow over the next few years!
2020 Harvest Update Arrival
We are bottling *hopefully*, very soon. The oils are tasting incredible this year and we can't wait to share them with you! Unfortunately, we are experiencing delays right now due to Covid and weather (re: box manufacturer's flooded warehouse). We expect new oils to arrive end of January 2021 or early February. We will open 2020 preorders in the upcoming weeks. If you aren't able to grab an Oprah's Favorite Things Gift Set you will be able to preorder some 2020 harvest : )
Memberships
Our entire membership program is getting overhauled! Details will be sent once we get everything properly set up : )
Patate e Peperoni
The world's most complicated, yet simple recipe: Patate e Peperoni. We are so excited to finally share this with you as it's one of our favorites. We make this all the time and a trip to Calabria is never complete without this dish. We always know when Lina is making Patate e Peperoni because the scent wafts through our shared hallway and into our house. It's comfort food that's somehow appropriate year-round and tastes best hot and at room temperature. Basically, Patate e Peperoni is a unicorn of a dish that is precious and can do no wrong. It also happens to be vegan and vegetarian (see? Unicorn).
Forbes Under 30
This year I was selected as one of Forbes Under 30 most influential people in food! When we first started EXAU, I believed approval from our peers and others in the food industry was really important in order to move our business forward. But the more time passed the more I realized we couldn't completely relate to many people in this space because we operated our businesses so differently. Not in a bad way, it was just different. I always sort of felt on the outside and almost like I was doing something I should not have been doing.
While Giuseppe and I have always known our work is important, full of joy, and delicious; it took me a long time to realize the reason I didn't 'fit in' is because I didn't like the rules in this space (neither did Giuseppe). Receiving this recognition by Forbes is so special. It confirms there's a lot of room in the olive oil industry. There is space for young and/or different producers, but we have to create the room ourselves.
FYI: Lina and Salvatore don't know who Forbes is 'but they are proud'.
You'll be hearing from us again soon. Until then, Happy Holidays and take Care!
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A presto,
-Skyler & Giuseppe
www.EXAUoliveoil.com