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Wonderful Seedless

1:01

lemons.com to learn

1:04

more. I'm Francis Lamb

1:06

and this is the

1:08

Splendid table from APM. If

1:10

you are as obsessed with

1:12

flavors I am. When you hear

1:14

the words Mediterranean diet, you probably

1:17

think of chick peas and kebabs,

1:19

spices and sesame, smoking hot grills

1:21

and amazing fresh vegetables with lemon

1:23

and sumac or stewed in their

1:25

own juices. And you think of

1:27

olive oil and more olive oil.

1:30

Well it turns out that if

1:32

you also think of food as

1:34

the thing that keeps your body

1:36

working, well all those foods are

1:38

pretty much optimized to keep you

1:41

kicking around forever. And that is

1:43

why Suzy Karate's internet breaks every

1:45

January. She's the founder of the

1:47

Mediterranean dish.com, a beloved resource for

1:49

recipes to help you live the

1:51

Mediterranean diet. And while something like

1:54

90% of people famously forget about

1:56

their New Year's resolutions by Martin

1:58

Luther King Day. Eating Susie's food

2:00

is something that I would certainly

2:02

sign up for any day of

2:05

the year. Her new book is

2:07

called The Mediterranean Dish, Simply Dinner.

2:09

So hey Susie, it's great to see

2:11

you. You too. I love that you're

2:13

in the kitchen that launched a thousand

2:16

videos. You've never seen this kitchen a

2:18

million times or some reason it feels

2:20

more real now that you and I

2:22

are talking. Right? Yeah, I actually do cook.

2:24

the things you see on camera. Yeah, this

2:26

actually is my kitchen people. Yeah, this

2:29

actually is. Yeah, and it's fun watching

2:31

you cook because you have so much

2:33

joy in it and you're so much

2:35

joy in sharing your food. And it's

2:37

a little funny because I know that,

2:39

you know, a big part of your audience

2:42

thinks of you as like a diet

2:44

expert. And you know, we don't

2:46

really talk that much about diets

2:48

on our show, probably for the

2:50

same reason that you don't really

2:52

emphasize food is more about... enjoyment

2:54

and craft and joy and coming together

2:56

and all those things and not so

2:58

much about like let's think about the

3:00

stuff you can't eat but the fact

3:02

is people come to you for that

3:05

and every January I know your like

3:07

your website explodes with traffic like you're

3:09

like oh my god my site is

3:11

crashing against yeah so because people are

3:13

interested in you know this thing that

3:15

you like you're hearing about the Mediterranean

3:17

diet so I'm curious to hear you actually

3:19

describe that what is the

3:21

Mediterranean diet Yeah, that's a great

3:23

place to start and like

3:26

I said, I'm not really

3:28

a dietitianist or or somebody

3:30

that feels qualified to give people

3:32

diet advice. What I am, though,

3:34

is somebody who was born and

3:37

raised in that part of the

3:39

world right on the Mediterranean in

3:41

Port Side, Egypt, and that's the

3:43

way I ate growing up. And

3:45

so I feel like sharing it

3:47

from my personal experience has made

3:50

it more approachable for people. But

3:52

I don't prefer to call it

3:54

a diet in that there's not

3:56

a list of do's and don't.

3:58

You don't really. give up a

4:01

whole, you know, host of

4:03

food groups. But it is

4:05

a very sensible way of

4:07

eating that is more plant

4:09

forward. I don't want to

4:11

say plant-based, although it is

4:13

plant-based, but it's just, we

4:15

eat everything. But we do

4:17

focus a whole lot on...

4:20

the Mediterranean diet pyramid which

4:22

really at the base of

4:24

it you have the largest

4:26

group of foods that we

4:28

eat is vegetables fruits plants

4:30

grains whole grains especially and then

4:32

up at the very top of

4:35

the pyramid what we eat less

4:37

of is heavier red meats and

4:40

we don't eat a whole lot

4:42

of processed foods, but everything that

4:44

we have around us is somewhat

4:47

processed. So I always say, think

4:49

of it this way. The Mediterranean

4:51

way of eating kind of like

4:54

centers around three things. Eat with

4:56

the seasons, use mostly whole

4:59

foods, and above all else, share

5:01

because sharing and being at the

5:03

table with people we love is

5:05

a big part of the Mediterranean

5:08

lifestyle. Aside from that, I really

5:10

don't think so hard about it.

5:12

I don't count my calories. I

5:15

don't step on the scale every

5:17

day. But it's such a fun

5:19

way to eat and it's so

5:22

delicious. Yeah, I love that last part

5:24

too. It's like the sharing part

5:26

of it. And I do think

5:28

that's a huge part of health and

5:30

well-being. So let me get to some

5:32

of your food because I know you

5:34

have a great respect for... traditional foods

5:36

of this region and such such a

5:39

huge region when we talk about the

5:41

Mediterranean region it's like yeah you know

5:43

you're talking about the Middle East certainly

5:45

you're talking about like Levantine cuisine but

5:47

you're also talking about Italy and Greece

5:49

and I know you're you know you

5:52

love all of those cuisines but you

5:54

know you live to Michigan you live

5:56

in Iowa you live in Atlanta so

5:58

there's a very American sensibility to your

6:00

food too. And when I opened up

6:02

the new book, one of the first

6:05

recipes in the book and the first

6:07

one that I'm like, oh my God,

6:09

I want to make that is a

6:11

pizza, but made with filo dough

6:13

as the crust. So it's super

6:16

easy, but you like stuff it

6:18

with cheese. It's called the flaky

6:20

veggie filo pizza. Tell us about this

6:22

one. Yeah. So I'm a very lazy cook,

6:25

and that's why I wrote simply dinner, because

6:27

I feel like a lot of people are

6:29

in my shoes where you want to put

6:31

dinner on the table fast, but you want

6:33

it to be good as well. So it

6:36

really just was one of those where I

6:38

reached in the freezer, found some filo dough,

6:40

and I just pulled it out, let it

6:42

thaw for a little bit. And then you

6:44

just kind of lay the sheets of filo.

6:47

down and it's paper thin right so it's

6:49

a lot less dense than like a pizza

6:51

dough and it ends up being really

6:53

crispy and nice when you put it

6:55

in the oven so it's like a

6:57

little bit fancier even but all I

6:59

do is just kind of lay a

7:01

few sheets of filo down put a

7:04

little bit of feta cheese and maybe

7:06

some mozzarella and then I raid the

7:08

fridge for any veggies I have chopped

7:10

those up and put it all together

7:12

and stick it in the oven and

7:14

it cooks very like paper. and there

7:16

you go, like in 15, 20 minutes,

7:18

you have something that looks special, like

7:20

you kind of toiled over it, and

7:22

nobody needs to know how easy it

7:24

was, you know. Yeah, unless you're really

7:27

maniacal making Philo at home, which I've never

7:29

actually seen anyone do, like, yeah, it comes

7:31

in the freezer. But, well, this is interesting.

7:33

I want to talk to you about the

7:35

laring technique, because, so when you get the

7:38

frozen Philo, It's a very dry dough, it's

7:40

a very lean dough, like you know, it's

7:42

paper thin, right? And so typically if you're

7:44

looking at a recipe that uses like a

7:47

baklava or something, like you lay a sheet

7:49

down and then you take a brush and you

7:51

like paint it with olive oil or maybe melted

7:53

butter. And then you put another layer down and

7:55

you do that. And for this pizza, you don't

7:57

do that, but you have like a few layers.

8:00

And then you sprinkle on cheese and

8:02

then a few more layers. Yeah.

8:04

So with this particular recipe, because

8:06

again, I'm lazy, I just thought,

8:08

you know, I lay a few

8:10

sheets down and I do brush

8:12

it with olive oil and then

8:14

a few more sheets. But rather

8:16

than doing every single sheet, I'm

8:18

like, you know, what's the harm

8:20

in trying? to do a few

8:22

layers at a time and it

8:25

actually works because I only use

8:27

like I think 10 or 12

8:29

sheets of feel altogether it wasn't

8:31

that big of a deal to

8:33

just lay down three at a

8:35

time and do it yeah and

8:37

then you have like that kind

8:39

of like the binding agent here

8:41

would be like the cheese in

8:43

the middle and it really comes

8:45

out perfect and nobody has to

8:47

know how easy it is so

8:49

yeah Yeah, that sounds so cool.

8:51

I just love the idea of

8:53

the cheese melting in between and

8:55

that and that and the and

8:57

the natural fat from the cheese

8:59

is actually also what sort of

9:02

like christening up. I love it.

9:04

I want to get to another

9:06

one. You have a dish. I

9:08

assume it's not traditional because the

9:10

title of it is a win's

9:12

favorite chicken. Yeah. sun-dried tomato and

9:14

tomato paste and spices. Tell us

9:16

about that marinade. Yeah, so again,

9:18

one of those things where it's

9:20

like, you know, people are coming

9:22

over and we're gonna put some

9:24

chicken on the grill and I'm

9:26

like, I gotta do something different.

9:28

And I think that we forget

9:30

that tomato paste and sun-dried tomato,

9:32

they both really could and pop

9:34

flavor so much. Because in some

9:37

parts of the Middle East... we

9:39

do use tomato paste for marinades

9:41

and it gives it color but

9:43

also you know tomato like umami

9:45

and is really even a hint

9:47

of sweetness and sun-dried tomato would

9:49

be another layer of that and

9:51

then I just put together some

9:53

like more warm Middle Eastern spices

9:55

gar- lake, little bit of lemon

9:57

juice to brighten everything up. And

9:59

you just toss the chicken together

10:01

in it and leave it in

10:03

the fridge. And it turns out

10:05

to be Owen's favorite chicken. Owen

10:07

was sick when he tried this.

10:09

He's my good friend's son and

10:11

he could not stop eating it.

10:14

And then at the end of

10:16

the dinner, I went to help

10:18

him wash his hands because he

10:20

had gotten it all over like

10:22

the whole. tomato was all over

10:24

his face and so I'm like

10:26

hey you know I'll hold the

10:28

towel for you and you can

10:30

like wash and whatever and he's

10:32

like that was some good chicken

10:34

in a fun southern accent so

10:36

I'm like okay you know what

10:38

buddy is gonna be Owen's favorite

10:40

chicken and so he requests that

10:42

on repeat I decided it needed

10:44

to go in the book. Okay

10:46

so let me ask you a

10:49

little bit more about this marinade

10:51

so it's a thick marinade and

10:53

then when you grill it Because

10:55

the tomato has so much sugar

10:57

in it, do you have to

10:59

be careful grilling it? Are you

11:01

worried about it burning? You know,

11:03

it, it, well, it never has.

11:05

done that yet, but who knows?

11:07

It works for me. But I

11:09

think in general, it wasn't a

11:11

ton of tomato paste. That's just

11:13

a little bit to give the

11:15

color and just the umami. So

11:17

I think when we work with

11:19

marinades, and sometimes I'll use yogurt

11:21

for marinating chicken as well, because

11:24

it does help tenderize it. When

11:26

I do my marinades, I usually

11:28

just kind of like try to

11:30

balance things out. So I've got

11:32

onion and garlic, all of the

11:34

stuff that not one item over.

11:36

takes or overpowers the marinade. So

11:38

in this case, it wasn't really

11:40

that much tomato paste, but it

11:42

did the job to give the

11:44

color and that layer of umami.

11:46

So I think it's just kind

11:48

of like playing with portions when

11:50

you're doing marinades and dressings similarly

11:52

too. Do you wipe off the

11:54

excess marinade before you grill? Yeah,

11:56

a little bit. You kind of

11:58

just give it a little shake

12:01

and then it goes in and

12:03

it's fine. grill so if anything

12:05

goes on fire. At that point,

12:07

you know. Susie Crochet's newest book

12:09

is The Mediterranean Dish Simply Dinner.

12:11

More with her in a minute

12:13

and then we turn to the

12:15

world of olive oil with Claudia

12:17

Hannah. I'm Francis Lamb and this

12:19

is the Splendid table from APM.

12:21

Support for the Head

13:01

to Whole Foods Market to jumpstart

13:03

your January during our new year

13:05

boosting event with savings on feel-good

13:07

favorites store-wide. Save on organic picks,

13:09

wellness staples, and more all month

13:12

long. I'm

13:18

Francis Lamb and this is the

13:20

show for curious cooks and eaters.

13:22

We're talking with Susie Kerachang, the

13:25

internet's favorite maven of the Mediterranean

13:27

diet. Let's get back to it

13:29

with her. So like you said,

13:31

you grew up in Egypt and

13:33

you grew up with your mother's

13:35

cooking, but you learned a lot

13:38

of cooking from your husband's mother,

13:40

your mother-in-law as well. Yeah. Yeah,

13:42

so my husband's background, they are

13:44

Jordanian. My mother-in-law grew up in

13:46

Jordan. Her mother was Palestinian. And

13:48

so she's like a lot of

13:50

Levantine cooking, that part of the

13:53

Middle East. And so when I

13:55

got married 20 some years ago,

13:57

that was kind of my way

13:59

to connect with my... mother-in-law, she

14:01

loved the kitchen and I loved

14:03

to learn. And so she was

14:06

the one who introduced me to

14:08

like Zatar, you know, she would

14:10

bring, it would come to them

14:12

from Jordan and so I really

14:14

like fell in love with it.

14:16

I had known about it and

14:18

I tried it in Egypt, but

14:21

my mom didn't cook with it

14:23

as much. My mother-in-law always has

14:25

it. They even just used it

14:27

as, you know, like dipping olive

14:29

oil with a little bit. you

14:31

know, app or appetizer or snap.

14:34

Yeah, what they dip bread in.

14:36

And so I just fell in

14:38

love with that and played with

14:40

it a lot. So I do

14:42

chicken, I do fish, I do

14:44

different things with Zatar. So she

14:46

really helped me kind of experiment

14:49

a little bit more with the

14:51

flavors of that region because as

14:53

you said, the Mediterranean is so

14:55

used. More than 20 countries touching

14:57

the Mediterranean. So it's never boring

14:59

eating the Mediterranean way because you

15:02

can find a whole lot combinations

15:04

of flavors. So I really credit

15:06

my mother-in-law with teaching me a

15:08

bit more about Levantine cooking. Yeah,

15:10

I love that. The Zatar, so

15:12

Zatar, it means two different things,

15:14

right? One, it's like a word

15:17

for an herb, like a wild

15:19

oregano. Yeah. But the Zatar you're

15:21

talking about is like a blend.

15:23

A blend. Yeah. that oregano and

15:25

like sumac and sesame? Yes, basically.

15:27

Just those three ingredients. No, it's

15:30

like traditionally that those are the

15:32

three ingredients that should be in

15:34

your Zatar. So wild time toasted

15:36

sesame seeds and sumac and it's

15:38

it's herby and deep and has

15:40

a little bit of tanginess all

15:42

at once and it's just and

15:45

then a little nuttiness from the

15:47

sesame seed. So it's really rich.

15:49

If you ever want to take

15:51

something so ordinary, like French fries.

15:53

to the next level sprinkle some

15:55

Zata on top and you're like,

15:58

oh my gosh, it sounds incredible.

16:00

It's a whole new thing, right?

16:02

So I do sweet potato fries

16:04

and I toss. them with Zata

16:06

as soon as they come out

16:08

of the oven. And so and

16:10

then and then I dip them

16:13

in sehini and it's like my

16:15

fries experience is completely different than

16:17

the average person's fries experience and

16:19

I love it. So yeah I

16:21

think because there's so much you

16:23

can do with the flavors, the

16:26

herbs, the spices, you end up

16:28

kind of doing away with too

16:30

much salt in your food or

16:32

you know too much fat because

16:34

you're able to create a fun

16:36

and joyful flavor party experience in

16:38

your mouth just with these really

16:41

wholesome ingredients. So yeah totally. Well

16:43

actually let me get back to

16:45

a couple more recipes that are

16:47

in your book because I'm intrigued

16:49

by them. One is an Armenian

16:51

apricot red lentil soup. And you

16:54

know, lentil soup is usually not

16:56

something that people go, oh my

16:58

god, lentil soup, sign me up.

17:00

This one you should try though.

17:02

Yeah, no, the idea of the

17:04

apricot and the lentil together is

17:07

so interesting. Tell me about this

17:09

one. You know, and that was

17:11

new to me as well. I

17:13

have quite a few Armenian friends

17:15

and there is such a, just

17:17

a connection. A lot of people

17:19

from Lebanon have some... Armenian roots,

17:22

we all really share a lot

17:24

together. Apricot is really something they

17:26

use more than, like for us

17:28

growing up in Egypt, we maybe

17:30

just had it as a fruit

17:32

or in desserts, but in other

17:35

parts, and even you'll find a

17:37

North African cooking as well, dried

17:39

fruits can be used in savory

17:41

dishes. And in this particular... recipe,

17:43

you might have used like fresh

17:45

apricot but here to make it

17:47

more user-friendly any time of the

17:50

year. You chop up some dried

17:52

apricot and you could rehydrate them

17:54

if you want but you could

17:56

just add them on the top

17:58

of your soup which is a

18:00

creamy very velvety lentil soup which

18:03

absolutely is really gorgeous and you

18:05

don't really notice a whole lot

18:07

of a change but if you

18:09

didn't put it. you would be

18:11

missing something because the just a

18:13

little bit of hints of sweet

18:15

hanginess from that apricot really takes

18:18

it to the next level. So

18:20

you have some warm flavors in

18:22

that lentil soup from the spices

18:24

and like the onion or whatever

18:26

and then drizzle some really good

18:28

extra version olive oil on top

18:31

and you're good to go. Yeah.

18:33

So yeah I love that recipe.

18:35

And it is unique because not

18:37

a lot of people think about

18:39

using dried fruit in that way.

18:41

Yeah, that sounds so cool. Yeah.

18:43

Speaking of lentils, this is a

18:46

pro-lental show. Yes. A beat in

18:48

lentil salad. Yeah. But I'm most

18:50

intrigued by the dressing, which is

18:52

a ginger pomegranate molasses dressing. I've

18:54

never put ginger and pomegranate molasses

18:56

together. Oh, you should. Tell us

18:59

about this combination. Okay. It's so

19:01

great. I really get excited about

19:03

it. It's so great. It's so

19:05

great. Okay, pomegranate molasses is another

19:07

thing that I learned to use

19:09

a little bit more from my

19:11

mother-in-law than from my own mom.

19:14

Again, I was familiar with it,

19:16

but didn't think you could use

19:18

it so often. The first experience

19:20

that I just like really opened

19:22

my eyes as to what this

19:24

can do in addressing was the

19:27

tatouche salad, which is a very

19:29

well-known Middle Eastern salad that has

19:31

like, you know, they old pita

19:33

bread bread bread bread. tossed with

19:35

veggies and then the pomegranate molasses

19:37

and sumac is what makes the

19:39

the salad dressing and I'm like

19:42

oh my gosh because it's both

19:44

tangy and sweet like it really

19:46

can take your average olive oil

19:48

lemon juice dressing that I do

19:50

all the time you add to

19:52

it a couple teaspoons of that

19:55

pomegranate molasses and you give it

19:57

a good shake and it's it

19:59

can transform a lot of people

20:01

will use balsamic vinegar right but

20:03

not very many people will use

20:05

pomegranate molasses in this way which

20:07

you can make by you know

20:10

turning palm juice into molasses is

20:12

fine but I mean I have

20:14

it in a bottle and I

20:16

use it all the time and

20:18

here when you add the ginger

20:20

to it then you add this

20:23

bright like bomb in the salad

20:25

and I chose to use raw

20:27

ginger right so it's raw grated

20:29

ginger that you've raised yes and

20:31

cool in this particular salad I

20:33

chose that combination because when you

20:35

think about like just lentils and

20:38

beads are very earthy And my

20:40

husband is one of those people

20:42

who is like, no, it's, it

20:44

tastes, it tastes like the earth,

20:46

like mud. It tastes like dirt,

20:48

yeah, we can say it, we

20:51

can say it here. I love

20:53

beads, I'm a pro beat, yeah,

20:55

but just. Right, me too. It's

20:57

a little bit like dirt, because

20:59

I feel like you, people don't

21:01

understand beads. And my husband is

21:03

one of those people. So I'm

21:06

like, I am going to make

21:08

a recipe that will make him.

21:10

enjoy beets. But both lentils and

21:12

beets kind of have that like,

21:14

you know, lentils can be blend

21:16

if you didn't really like amp

21:19

them up with flavor. So when

21:21

you put beets and lentils together,

21:23

you really do need to brighten

21:25

things up. And that pomegranate molasses,

21:27

ginger lemon thing is all you

21:29

need to really make somebody fall

21:32

in love with beets. So it

21:34

was a successful experiment. I can

21:36

report that I can report that.

21:38

I can report that I can

21:40

report that. I can report that.

21:42

I can report that. I can

21:44

report that. I can report that.

21:47

I can report that. I can

21:49

report that. I can report that.

21:51

For sure. Okay, last thing. And

21:53

this is maybe quick, because we

21:55

just talked about a beautiful salad.

21:57

We were talking about a soup.

22:00

And you had mentioned earlier that part

22:02

of the sort of natural rhythm

22:04

of Mediterranean eating is you

22:06

don't avoid meats, you don't avoid animal

22:08

proteins, you just don't eat a ton

22:10

of it. It's sort of the go

22:12

with more than the center of the

22:14

meal. And you have a little section

22:16

of recipes that is basically like

22:18

simple meat preparations that are like

22:20

the go with. And I love this one.

22:22

There's like a, I think there's like a

22:25

simple chicken, maybe a simple salmon that you

22:27

can just... It's normally like, you go to

22:29

a restaurant, you order the salad and you

22:31

have like a top with a little bit

22:33

of roasted chicken or whatever. It's like, that's

22:36

the version of that for the home. But

22:38

you have one that's for ground meat, and

22:40

I thought this was so cool, because basically

22:42

it's the same recipe, but four different versions,

22:45

just using four different sort of seasonings

22:47

or flavor profiles, and you can totally

22:49

turn them in different directions. Tell us

22:51

about those. is I think the name of

22:54

that section in the simply dinner cookbook and

22:56

and I came up with it for the

22:58

same reason you were just mentioning like when

23:00

you go to a restaurant you order a

23:03

salad then they say do you want

23:05

chicken on it or do you want

23:07

a salmon on it so why not

23:09

have that option at home where salad

23:11

can be dinner and then if you

23:14

want to add the protein on top.

23:16

So you take one pound of ground,

23:18

beef ground, turkey, ground chicken, whatever ground

23:20

meat you want, and you can do

23:22

very simple like salt, pepper. onion

23:24

and garlic and it's just like

23:26

simple and it can go with

23:28

almost anything or you can give

23:30

it a little bit of a

23:33

you know Moroccan twists and give

23:35

it some you know I love

23:37

using Rasselhineut and cinnamon and those

23:39

warmer seasonings. that gives you a

23:41

North African flavor or you can

23:43

give it a Middle Eastern one

23:45

where you do all spice and

23:47

sumac and that sort of thing

23:49

or go Greek and do Greek

23:51

oregano. You can do Italian seasoning.

23:53

I only put four ideas there but

23:55

you can really go so many more

23:58

ways and part of the point behind

24:00

this book, Simply Dinner, is to

24:02

also invite people to, you know,

24:05

play and upgrade some of your

24:07

average everyday ingredient and give it

24:09

a Mediterranean twist. Well, thank you

24:11

so much Susie. It's been a

24:13

blast talking with you. You too.

24:15

Thank you. Susie Karache's latest book

24:18

is The Mediterranean Dish, Simply Dinner.

24:20

So you left us with that

24:22

recipe for that simple flaky veggie

24:24

feelo pizza. You can find it

24:26

at splend-a-table.org. And by the way,

24:29

speaking of books, you can win

24:31

a copy of some amazing new

24:33

cookbooks this month, some of which

24:35

we've talked about here. Just by

24:37

signing up for our free newsletter,

24:40

Weekend Kitchen. Every Wednesday you'll get

24:42

a recipe sent straight to your

24:44

email for some of the best

24:46

people working in food today. Go

24:48

to splend-a-table.org/giveaway. So

25:01

while we're talking about Mediterranean cuisinesines,

25:03

there is nothing more central to

25:05

those traditions than olive oil. Now

25:07

it may be hard to remember,

25:09

but there was a time when

25:11

olive oil was barely considered edible

25:13

here in the US, when it

25:15

was sold in pharmacies as an

25:17

ointment. Now of course it's ubiquitous,

25:19

but how much do we really

25:21

know about it? In my own

25:23

cupboard, I have to admit I've

25:25

gotten a little bit blah. Like

25:27

I've got like a decent olive

25:29

oil I use for cooking. And

25:31

I've kind of forgotten how good

25:34

a special oil can be. So

25:36

to reacquaint myself with the glories

25:38

of olive oil, we've got Claudia

25:40

Hannah, hosted the podcast if this

25:42

food could talk, and a trained

25:44

olive oil Somalia. So hey Claudia,

25:46

thanks for making the time today.

25:48

Thank you, Francis. I'm super excited

25:50

to talk with you. I've never

25:52

started my morning with a bracing

25:54

glass of olive oil before, so

25:56

I'm looking forward to that part

25:58

of our conversation. But before we

26:00

get to that. Let me just

26:02

ask you a very basic question.

26:04

How did olive oil become so

26:06

central to Mediterranean culture? That started

26:08

thousands and thousands of years ago.

26:10

So wild olive trees have been

26:12

growing. You can't really enjoy the

26:14

fruit of the wild olive tree.

26:16

They're just really tough little fruit.

26:18

But they've started grafting them from

26:21

about 6,000 years ago. And we

26:23

know that based on some pottery.

26:25

that has been found in the

26:27

Palace of Canosis on the island

26:29

of Crete. It's the Manoa civilization.

26:31

Some little red terracotta pottery has

26:33

been found where it's showing the

26:35

extraction of olives into olive oil.

26:37

So illustrations on the pottery, yeah.

26:39

So I don't know if you've

26:41

ever had an olive off of

26:43

the tree Francis. Have you ever

26:45

tried one? I haven't, but one

26:47

of my best friends did like

26:49

a study abroad in Italy once

26:51

and he was like, ooh, fresh

26:53

olive pluck and he was like,

26:55

it was the worst thing I've

26:57

ever done in my entire life.

26:59

It's totally awful. Like I did

27:01

the same thing. I took an

27:03

olive and I popped it in

27:05

my mouth thinking it would taste

27:07

like a really fresh, delicious. It's

27:10

not. It's really bitter and it

27:12

makes your mouth pucker and dry

27:14

and dry and water and it's

27:16

just awful. So how did they

27:18

figure out that you needed to

27:20

salt them and brine them for

27:22

about a week before they became

27:24

actually consumable? I am not sure.

27:26

All we know is that olive

27:28

oil. Yeah, olive oil has been

27:30

pressed. So remember the olive is

27:32

nothing more than the fruit of

27:34

the olive tree. Sure. And olive

27:36

oil. is nothing more than fruit

27:38

juice, the juice of the olive.

27:40

So they've been pressing it for

27:42

thousands of years and there was

27:44

many uses for it, including preserving

27:46

food and cheeses, they preserve meats,

27:48

they preserve cloths inside of olive

27:50

oil, they used it for lamp

27:52

oil, they've used it for religious

27:54

ceremonies. We all know the word,

27:57

the Messiah means the... anointed one,

27:59

so literally anointing people with olives

28:01

and olive oil. Oh, no kidding.

28:03

It's been used in the Mediterranean

28:05

for a long time. And it

28:07

typically started in the Eastern Mediterranean.

28:09

Many people were assuming Syria, Turkey,

28:11

modern day Turkey, and then it.

28:13

grafted and moved westward across the

28:15

med. Interestingly enough, like thousands of

28:17

years ago, people didn't actually love

28:19

the taste of it. They actually

28:21

preferred eating animal fat. We need

28:23

fat to cook with, right? So

28:25

wealthy families would actually prefer the

28:27

flavor of rabbit fat or poultry

28:29

fat or any kind of animal

28:31

fat over the use of olive

28:33

oil. People who didn't have access

28:35

to animals were relegated to... using

28:37

olive oil in their cooking. But

28:39

lamp oil and all that kind

28:41

of stuff, that was everybody was

28:43

using olive oil for that. Sure.

28:46

Okay, so let's actually get to

28:48

the making of olive oil. How

28:50

was olive oil actually made? Tell

28:52

us a little bit about that

28:54

process. Yeah, it's really hard work.

28:56

It's back breaking, exhausting work. So

28:58

now the olive tree has been

29:00

exported. all across the Mediterranean, and

29:02

then there are certain parts of

29:04

the world that olive trees grow.

29:06

You need a really hard, hot,

29:08

dry summers, cool winters, a bit

29:10

of rain, but it doesn't love

29:12

a lot of moisture, especially when

29:14

the fruit is flowering. If you

29:16

think of any place that grapes

29:18

and wine grows... pretty much where

29:20

olives can grow as well. So

29:22

across the northern hemisphere we've got

29:24

the Mediterranean climate and we've got

29:26

California and in the southern hemisphere

29:28

we've got a lot of countries

29:30

now producing it. So my family

29:33

and I have a second home

29:35

in Cyprus where my husband's from

29:37

and we've got some olive trees

29:39

and this is really part of

29:41

the Greek culture. Whenever someone buys

29:43

a house or you know it's

29:45

their first home, the first thing

29:47

you're supposed to plant in your

29:49

backyard. is an olive tree because

29:51

it is a sacred tree. It

29:53

is a tree that you use

29:55

absent. absolutely every part of the

29:57

fruit or the actual tree itself.

29:59

You burn the wood in the

30:01

wintertime, you carve it to make

30:03

beautiful bowls. I'm not like carving

30:05

my own bowls to be honest

30:07

with you. That's home ownership 2.0.

30:09

Exactly, exactly. I'm going to leave

30:11

that up to somebody else. And

30:13

we make our own table olives.

30:15

I haven't perfected that. I have

30:17

to be honest. My table olives

30:19

are pretty dry and little and

30:22

scrawny and I've got to take

30:24

a class on that myself. And

30:26

then we press the olives to

30:28

make the oils. And about three

30:30

trees will be enough for your

30:32

entire family for an actual year.

30:34

And that's a rough estimate. So

30:36

in the northern hemisphere, you are

30:38

picking your olives in the late

30:40

fall. So for me, we pick

30:42

our trees somewhere between mid-October, any

30:44

time through November is a really

30:46

big harvesting season, and it depends

30:48

on how hot and cold the

30:50

seasons have been that year, but

30:52

into December. Some, I just talked

30:54

to a friend of mine, she's

30:56

going to be picking her olives

30:58

in January this year. Southern Hemisphere,

31:00

that will be in the springtime

31:02

for that. So you can always

31:04

find an abundance of freshly pressed

31:06

olive oils nowadays, because we have

31:09

people producing on the northern hemisphere,

31:11

as well as the southern hemisphere.

31:13

Yeah. Let's cover some basics about

31:15

using it. You know, olive oil

31:17

is been a common ingredient in,

31:19

you know, mainstream American grocery stores

31:21

for 30 plus years, right? So

31:23

it's not like, wow, this is

31:25

a real mystery, but I think

31:27

there are probably still lots of

31:29

misconceptions or basics that are maybe

31:31

a little unclear. Like to this

31:33

day, I still hear people will

31:35

say, oh, you should never cook

31:37

with olive oil. And meanwhile, I've

31:39

seen restaurants be like, we fry

31:41

our french fries and extra virgin

31:43

olive oil. So can you speak

31:45

to that? Yeah, I don't I

31:47

don't fully understand why they're saying

31:49

you can't cook with it I

31:51

cook with all I mean we've

31:53

been cooking with olive oil for

31:55

six thousand years Exactly, I don't

31:58

have I have butter in my

32:00

house, but other than that I've

32:02

got olive oil So the marketing

32:04

of olive oil here in the

32:06

States and in the West where

32:08

we're probably just still trying to

32:10

understand it is probably where the

32:12

confusion lies. But when it comes

32:14

to choosing different types of olive

32:16

oils, I really want people to

32:18

get familiar with reading their labels.

32:20

So extra virgin olive oil means

32:22

it is the very first press.

32:24

So you're taking the olives, you're

32:26

picking them off the tree, you've

32:28

got 24 hours. to get it

32:30

from the tree into the press.

32:32

And the first time it's been

32:34

pressed is extra virgin olive oil.

32:36

And that's considered the good stuff,

32:38

right? The cold press means that

32:40

oil that olive has never touched

32:42

heat before. So it is just

32:45

pressing using modern day presses. Once

32:47

upon a time it was like

32:49

donkeys, but nowadays it's just these

32:51

metal clamps coming down and just

32:53

pressing the fruit so that the

32:55

oil. pulls away from the skin,

32:57

pulls away from the pit on

32:59

the inside. Okay, and that's a

33:01

first pressed extra virgin olive oil.

33:03

And so that's why the prices

33:05

for extra virgin cold pressed olive

33:07

oil are pretty expensive because you

33:09

can't get a whole lot from

33:11

a teeny tiny olive. Okay. Now,

33:13

they'll take that same olive and

33:15

they will run it through a

33:17

second press and that's considered a

33:19

virgin olive oil. So I don't

33:21

even know what they call. the

33:23

second, third, fourth presses, but they

33:25

keep pressing that same olive over

33:27

and over again. Now, we have

33:29

millions and millions of consumers of

33:31

olive oils, but we don't have

33:34

that many trees that can fill

33:36

up Mediterranean region, right, or like

33:38

California and Argentina, all the countries

33:40

I just mentioned. So the producers

33:42

are trying to get smart. How

33:44

can I excel more oil? So

33:46

then they discovered if they actually

33:48

heat... the fruit, the heating kind

33:50

of expands the fruit, it pulls

33:52

the skin away from the flesh,

33:54

and then you get to press

33:56

it and more oil gets released.

33:58

What happens is that you reduce...

34:00

the antioxidant levels. So if you're

34:02

going to be making salads, you do

34:04

want to buy a bottle that says

34:07

cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil. Absolutely.

34:09

But if you're going to be

34:11

frying like I do my potatoes,

34:13

I don't necessarily need to use

34:15

my expensive cold pressed for that. You

34:17

can just use a virgin olive oil

34:19

for that. Something I notice on labels

34:21

too is like to say something about

34:23

an acidity level. So there are a

34:26

couple bodies out there that regulate. olive

34:28

oil. The International Olive Council, it

34:30

states that extra virgin olive oil

34:33

must have an acidity level less

34:35

than 0.8%. The California Olive Council,

34:37

that's the second one, that's kind

34:40

of reappeared and that's through the

34:42

UC Davis Olive Center. They require

34:44

an acidity level of less than

34:47

0.5%. So that's just when your

34:49

polyphenol count is at the highest

34:52

level. But once you start applying

34:54

the heat while extracting the olive

34:56

juice... So applying the heat reduces

34:58

that acidity level. And so

35:00

that's when you're reducing the polyphenols

35:03

as well. Claudia Hanna is hosted

35:05

the podcast if this food could

35:07

talk and is an olive oil

35:09

Somalia. We have an olive oil

35:11

tasting with her on deck. I'm

35:13

Francis Lamb and this is the

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treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

36:17

I'm Francis Lamb and this is

36:19

the show for curious cooks and

36:21

eaters. We're talking with Claudia Hannah

36:23

about the complex fees of olive

36:25

oil. Let's get back with her.

36:27

Let's do a little bit of

36:29

tasting because you suggested I get

36:31

three different olive oils and these

36:33

are all pretty commonly available. And

36:35

you know we've talked about city

36:37

levels, you mentioned polyphenols which I

36:39

think are the antioxidants in the

36:41

oil right, but let's maybe we

36:43

taste them and then we get

36:45

into some of the details about

36:47

what these things actually mean for

36:49

flavor. Absolutely. The first one, so

36:51

have you poured yourself a little

36:53

shot. Yeah, I have. It's intimidating

36:56

to have three glasses of olive

36:58

oil. But let's do this. Okay,

37:00

thank you for playing around for

37:02

being willing to do this. Okay,

37:04

so what's the first one we

37:06

should try? All right, so I

37:08

recommended trying the Bertoli extra virgin

37:10

olive oil. Okay. This is, Bertoli

37:12

is, you could find it in

37:14

any market, you could find it

37:16

in every store, I think we

37:18

got this one online. But it

37:20

says, and actually we do me

37:22

a favor, Francis. Can you just

37:24

kind of read it for me?

37:26

Because I think the reading of

37:28

the label is super important. Sure.

37:30

So the brand is Bertoli. It

37:32

says extra virgin olive oil, it

37:34

says ideal for salad dressings, maran

37:36

marinades, marinade, and bread dipping. Rich

37:38

taste. It says rich taste. So

37:40

that's that's got to mean something.

37:42

We'll find out what that means.

37:44

It does say first cold press

37:47

and it says acidity max 0.3%.

37:49

Okay, Gobertole. So I mentioned to

37:51

you guys that when an olive

37:53

is harvested you need 24 hours

37:55

to get it to the press.

37:57

It is then bottled right away.

37:59

And I Ideally, you will have

38:01

a harvest date written on your

38:03

bottle. So when was it harvested?

38:05

And then you have two years.

38:07

What we love, we olive oil,

38:09

Someliers love, is that if you

38:11

can consume your bottle within two

38:13

years of opening or from that

38:15

harvest date, if it doesn't tell

38:17

you the harvest date, that will

38:19

tell you that, well, I just

38:21

don't want you to know, because

38:23

it might have been sitting on

38:25

a shelf. This doesn't say anything

38:27

that like explicitly says harvest state,

38:29

but there are two dates on

38:31

it. And one is October 2nd,

38:33

2024, which was pretty recent. Yeah,

38:35

three months from when we're recording

38:38

now. And the other says January

38:40

2nd, 26. So presumably the one

38:42

the future is the best buy.

38:44

So what it should be, what

38:46

that I'm reading is that was

38:48

harvested in October and you have.

38:50

You should have until October of

38:52

2026 to consume it. So they're

38:54

giving you until January. Okay. So

38:56

this is actually very fresh. Yeah,

38:58

it'll be pretty fresh is what

39:00

I'm hearing. Okay. Good. Okay. So

39:02

I have you pouring it into

39:04

a nice little glass, a clean

39:06

glass. Yeah. If you could do

39:08

me a favor and if you

39:10

could try to hold the glass

39:12

so that the palm of your

39:14

hand is at the base. I'm

39:16

wanting to warm up the glass

39:18

a little bit with your body

39:20

heat. Okay, and swirl it around.

39:22

We're going to use our senses.

39:24

What colors do you see in

39:26

there, Francis? The lighting here is

39:29

not gorgeous, I gotta tell you,

39:31

but it's... Is it a darker

39:33

yellow? Yeah, I would say it's...

39:35

Yeah, I would say it's a

39:37

dark yellow. Yeah, I would say

39:39

it's a dark yellow. Okay, yeah,

39:41

I would say it's a dark

39:43

yellow. Okay, so we've got it

39:45

warmed up in your hands, you've

39:47

circled in your hands, you've circledled

39:49

around. It

39:52

smells a little bit leafy. Okay.

39:55

A little bit like fall leaves.

39:57

Oh. It smells like olive oil.

39:59

Okay, it smells like olive oil.

40:01

It smells smooth. Which is not

40:03

a useful thing to say. Yeah.

40:05

It's not like sharp. It's not

40:07

like, it doesn't like punch into

40:10

my nose. Okay. So it's pretty

40:12

balanced. Yeah, it's a little mellow.

40:14

Okay. It's what I would have

40:16

expected. Yeah. Okay. I love this

40:18

stuff on food I gotta tell

40:20

you but yeah it is better

40:22

on food but this is a

40:25

tasting okay and then kind of

40:27

open your mouth and try to

40:29

get some air through it for

40:31

your mouth so sorry Francis this

40:33

feels weird I know and it's

40:35

so weird no okay It is

40:37

very strange to have just that

40:40

much like oil sitting in your

40:42

mouth. It does feel, I mean,

40:44

it's not unpleasant in the sense

40:46

of like, it feels smooth, it

40:48

feels like very coating in a

40:50

sort of nice way. I can't

40:52

say there's a lot of flavor

40:55

that I'm getting out of this.

40:57

There's a little bit of pepperiness

40:59

at the very back of my

41:01

throat, but that's about it. It's

41:03

not very aromatic. Good, good. So

41:05

it didn't make you cough, I

41:08

noticed that. It felt like an

41:10

oil was kind of sitting in

41:12

the back of your mouth, is

41:14

what I'm hearing. Okay, great. If

41:16

you need to grab a glass

41:18

of water, we're going to move

41:20

on to our second oil. So

41:23

when I do teach this class,

41:25

I have people writing down notes

41:27

and saying, what did we smell?

41:29

What did we taste? Is there

41:31

a pepper? Is there a pepper?

41:33

That's also a very interesting sign.

41:35

All right, let's see if we

41:38

can get you to cough a

41:40

little bit now. This is what

41:42

we want. We're looking for that.

41:44

This is what we want. This

41:46

is what we want. If you

41:48

want your antioxidants, this is what

41:50

we want. Fair? Okay, sure. I

41:53

hear it's good for you. I

41:55

know, I know. All right, the

41:57

next bottle we're having is a

41:59

Whole Foods 365 brand. It's an

42:01

organic extra virgin olive oil and

42:03

it's a blend, right? It just

42:05

is Mediterranean. Mediterranean blend. And we

42:08

can talk about what that means

42:10

too. So we already discuss that

42:12

we need 24 hours to get

42:14

the fruit. pressed. So once it's

42:16

been picked, it's got to get

42:18

to the press within 24 hours.

42:20

When you have something called a

42:23

blend, it is most likely, and

42:25

you probably could read on the

42:27

back of that label as well,

42:29

are they olives from Italy? Are

42:31

they olives from Greece? Are they

42:33

olives from Tunisia? This is not

42:36

a statement saying, Tunisian olives are

42:38

better or worse than Italian ones.

42:40

Because there's excellent varieties, there's excellent

42:42

varieties, there's 150 varieties of olives.

42:44

across the world that are consumed.

42:46

So not one is better than

42:48

the other. It's more, what do

42:51

you like, but how long did

42:53

it take from the tree to

42:55

get it to the press? And

42:57

so when it says a Mediterranean

42:59

blend, it is taking olives from

43:01

different parts of the Mediterranean, it's

43:03

being shipped on a crate and

43:06

sent to Italy to then the

43:08

price has gone up. And the

43:10

problem with that is. it's just

43:12

not being pressed fast enough so

43:14

then the polyphenols are going to

43:16

be reduced. They just like evaporate

43:18

or whatever. Totally. It's just like

43:21

a fruit just gets tripled up.

43:23

Okay. All right so so that

43:25

means well maybe I won't prejudge

43:27

but I think what that means

43:29

is it's going to be even

43:31

less peppery. We'll see. But we'll

43:33

see. Okay so what colors are

43:36

you seeing? It's a little more

43:38

golden but maybe a slightly greener

43:40

than the other one. That's what

43:42

we want. to be honest with

43:44

you. That is what we want.

43:46

We're looking for a brighter kind

43:48

of greenish because that's when it

43:51

shows that it's a fresher fruit.

43:53

Oh, okay. I want you to

43:55

again put it in the palm

43:57

of your hand. I'd like you

43:59

to swirl it to try to

44:01

get it warmed up. Ideally, if

44:04

you had two hands free, I'd

44:06

have your hand over top. So

44:08

for anybody listening, you want to

44:10

try this at home with some

44:12

friends. You'd put the olive oil

44:14

in a little glass. You'd put

44:16

your hand over top of it,

44:19

over the lid or the mouth

44:21

of the glass. So that way

44:23

you can kind of the aromas

44:25

get all up in there. Hmm.

44:31

It's a little bit less aromatic

44:34

actually than the other one. Um,

44:36

to me anyway, there's like a

44:38

little bit more of a buttery

44:40

note in this one, I would

44:42

say, but also like a little

44:44

bit of a, and I don't

44:46

mean this in an unpleasant way,

44:48

even though I don't know how

44:50

to say it in a way,

44:52

doesn't sound unpleasant, but it's a

44:54

little bit like an Elmer's glue,

44:56

kind of. kind of smells good.

44:59

Now I really feel bad for

45:01

you. I'm like making a brand

45:03

sister and counselor's room. No, it's

45:05

not, it's not, but like not

45:07

super gross. There's just like a

45:09

little bit of a, you know,

45:11

there's like a plastic. Yeah, kind

45:13

of a plasticy kind of note

45:15

to it. But again, it's not

45:17

like grossing me out. Like, oh

45:19

my God, I don't want to

45:21

taste that. Does it smell like

45:23

oil? And then something that smells

45:26

like oil. Yeah, yeah, sure, sure,

45:28

sure, sure, sure. You've got to

45:30

think about what you want to

45:32

consume. Do you want to eat

45:34

like a, I want to consume

45:36

something that tastes like a freshly

45:38

cut grass versus something that just

45:40

tastes like oil? Yeah, no, no,

45:42

it does. Okay, no, that makes

45:44

sense. It does, it does smell

45:46

more than. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

45:48

It smells muted. There's

45:56

like a very brief moment where

45:58

I feel like I taste the

46:00

grassyness and then it

46:02

dissipates very quickly and then

46:05

it just tastes like oil

46:07

again there's like a slight

46:09

amount of like pepperiness in

46:11

the back of my throat but

46:13

actually even less I think

46:16

than the than the previous

46:18

one interesting we do me a

46:20

favor check out the back doesn't

46:22

have a production date a harvest date

46:25

it doesn't but it says

46:27

best before 1225 So 1225

46:29

means it would have been a 23.

46:31

It should be a 23, but you're

46:33

never sure. You're never sure with bottlers.

46:36

That's why the best before date doesn't

46:38

mean as much to me or to

46:40

any other olive oil sum. It's the

46:43

harvest date that needs to be on

46:45

there for a good oil. So this

46:47

oil is actually going to be older

46:49

and it's a blend. So I

46:51

would use, it's not saying don't

46:54

buy the 365 Whole Foods organic

46:56

extra virgin oil. It's just saying.

46:58

I wouldn't use this to top my

47:00

salads with. Yeah, to like really feature.

47:02

Like I would be perfectly happy

47:04

starting my onions and garlic and

47:07

my pasta sauce with this. A

47:09

hundred percent. Yeah, but not necessarily

47:11

like, oh, like really feature this

47:13

for the flavor. A hundred percent.

47:16

I'm psyched about the third one. Can

47:18

we get to the third one? Please.

47:20

Please. This is a Greek olive oil

47:22

that I'm very familiar with. It's called

47:24

Olympian myth. It's a

47:26

polypheninal rich. varietal. It's going

47:28

to have, well, let's see what you taste,

47:31

because I don't want to lead you in

47:33

too much, but this was a, it's a,

47:35

I've been to this orchard before,

47:37

and they do such a beautiful

47:40

job of not only packaging, but

47:42

making you feel very welcome, the

47:44

pressing process is very clean. They

47:46

take it, they're very careful on

47:49

the presses that they use, they've

47:51

got their own. So that helps,

47:53

because if presses aren't washed and

47:55

washed and... sanitized well then it

47:58

kind of comes through to the final

48:00

product. Okay, so what do you

48:02

see? What colors? Yeah, this is

48:04

a little more green for sure

48:06

than the other ones. But still

48:08

quite golden. It looks less clear.

48:10

So yeah, so olive oil has

48:12

to actually sit for a few

48:14

weeks before it's actually able to

48:16

consume. So that murkiness is quite

48:18

normal, especially with a very first

48:20

press. I'll send you some photos

48:22

of some of our oils that

48:24

are... first pressed and you're like

48:26

wow it's like green and dank

48:28

color crazy and then it lightens

48:30

up and then the the sediments

48:32

kind of settle so this means

48:34

it's a fresher I would imagine

48:37

it means a fresher yeah well

48:39

okay so you've warmed it up

48:41

in your hands you put your

48:43

nose in it what do you

48:45

smell it smells really nice it

48:47

smells definitely much more grassy it

48:49

smells a little bit like Apple

48:51

I want to say in a

48:53

funny way even though like it's

48:55

not it doesn't smell sweet a

48:57

green apple. Yeah, like there's like

48:59

a Yeah, there yeah for some

49:01

reason it just makes me think

49:03

apple any citrus Maybe a little

49:05

bit like it might be like

49:07

you might be leading the witness

49:09

a little bit on it. Sorry,

49:11

but like it's terawar is actually

49:13

really important when it comes up

49:15

to olive oils what grows beside

49:17

it the flavors through the tree

49:19

and ultimately through the fruit. Try

49:21

to get some air in your

49:23

mouth. Okay, this definitely feels like

49:25

I was outside low in the

49:27

grass. It's definitely, you know what,

49:29

it's funny, I've definitely had oils

49:31

that like really make me go

49:33

like, oh my god, that's like

49:35

too much. Yeah. Where like I

49:37

don't actually really enjoy it because

49:39

there's so This is like, this

49:41

is very different. It's like a

49:43

very nice warming kind of pepperiness.

49:45

A little bit like you like,

49:47

you know, that really nice, really

49:49

nice salad you had that like,

49:51

oh, look. was like just like

49:53

one crack of black pepper in

49:56

the end that you kind of

49:58

tasted a little bit. It's more

50:00

like that and it's sort of

50:02

like warming my mouth and warming

50:04

my throat. But the grassiness and

50:06

that flavor and that sort of

50:08

heat together is really nice. So

50:10

what's the difference between an oil

50:12

like this is like really pleasant

50:14

and ones that like really feel

50:16

like they're punching you in the

50:18

face and you're like people like

50:20

this like this is what people

50:22

want? Like it makes me gravitate

50:24

towards oils that say buttery, Yeah,

50:26

no, that's a very fair point.

50:28

When it becomes an overly peppery

50:30

olive oil and it becomes not

50:32

even pleasant because you're just coughing

50:34

and coughing too much, that I'm

50:36

with you, it needs to be

50:38

balanced, it needs to be structured.

50:40

With the Olympian myth, I love

50:42

this olive oil over top of

50:44

an Arugala salad. Mustered greens. Anything

50:46

that has like a darker green

50:48

that has a bit of spice

50:50

with when we... pair olive oil

50:52

with foods. We usually pair like

50:54

for like. So I try to

50:56

bring out that spiciness by adding

50:58

a bit of spicy greens to

51:00

it, so it elevates the taste.

51:02

And next time, you know, you,

51:04

you know, I hope you do

51:06

try this olive oil over top

51:08

of a spicier green salad, something

51:10

with radishes, because again, that grassiness

51:12

will come through. a bit more

51:15

with the salads and I think

51:17

you'll enjoy that taste. And then

51:19

you might want to wash it

51:21

down with a little peanut ratio,

51:23

but whatever you like with it.

51:25

Well, that sounds great. Well, thank

51:27

you for this. This has been

51:29

super fun. Oh, I'm so glad.

51:31

Thank you for being willing to

51:33

try this with me. I really

51:35

do appreciate it. I was hoping

51:37

for the cough. I won't lie.

51:39

I was hoping I was like,

51:41

one of them's got to make

51:43

a cough. Well, we'll get you

51:45

to cough some other time. All

51:47

right, Claudia, this has been super,

51:49

super educational. Thank you so much.

51:51

Thank you. Claudia Hannah is the

51:53

host of the podcast, If This

51:55

Food Could Talk, she teaches at

51:57

James Madison University and is a

51:59

founding member of the group. group,

52:01

Women and Olive Oil. And that

52:03

is our show for this week.

52:05

Thanks for listening. Go have something

52:07

delicious, and we'll talk to you

52:09

next week. ATM studios are run

52:11

by Chandra Kavati and Joanne Griffith,

52:13

and the Splendentable was created by

52:15

Sally Swift and Limousido Casper. It's

52:17

made each week by technical producer

52:19

Jennifer Luci, producer Erica Romero, digital

52:21

producer James Napoli and managing producer

52:23

Sally Swift. And hey, we want

52:25

to hear what you think. Send

52:27

us your thoughts, your story ideas,

52:29

and your cooking questions any time.

52:32

Get to us on social or

52:34

email contact at splendentable.org. I'm Francis

52:36

Lamb and this is APM Studios.

52:38

The Splendentable is supported by our

52:40

friends at The Incredible Egg, who

52:42

remind you that incredible things happen

52:44

when you break a few eggs.

52:46

Today I'm joined by Chef Nelson

52:48

Serrano-Barari from the American Egg Board.

52:50

Thanks for being me! You know,

52:52

times are always busy, but right

52:54

now I think we're all filling

52:56

that schedule crunch. I'm always looking

52:58

for new egg recipes that make

53:00

for quick snacks or meals I

53:02

can take on the go. My

53:04

kids love these egg bikes that

53:06

we get at the coffee shop.

53:08

So I start making them at

53:10

home in my air fryer, which

53:12

is a convenience that a lot

53:14

of people love. You might not

53:16

think eggs when you think air

53:18

fryer, but it's so great for

53:20

meals on the go. Just whisk

53:22

up some eggs and mixing your

53:24

favorite cheese, protein, and veggies, and

53:26

pop them into the air fryer

53:28

and cook for easy egg bites.

53:30

They're perfectly bite-sized to eat on

53:32

the right to school or your

53:34

commute, and they're low-risk in terms

53:36

of spills and a mess. Get

53:38

the recipe at meant to be

53:40

broken.org. That's great. And when you

53:42

make your egg recipes, don't forget

53:44

to cook your eggs to 160

53:46

degrees Fahrenheit. Thanks for the great

53:48

idea, Chef.