Welcome to the Spicy Olive Scoop

Here you’ll find our blog, descriptions of products, and recipes! We hope you enjoy all of these little tidbits and bites of culinary inspiration!

If you’re looking for descriptions of our fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oils or delicious Balsamic Vinegars, you’re in the right place. Simply click on Balsamic Vinegars, Flavored Olive Oils or Single-Varietal Extra Virgin Olive Oils to see descriptions of each as well as pairing suggestions. Enjoy!

Roasted Walnut Oil

Flavor: Just like a roasted walnut

Complements: Salads,

Vinegar Pairings: Red Apple, Pumpkin Spice

Ideas:

  1. Combine with our Red Apple Balsamic Vinegar for a fresh, fall-flavored salad dressing
  2. Perfect with the Cranberry Pear Gorgonzola Cheese Salad

Roasted Sesame Oil

Flavor: All of the flavors that you enjoy in roasted sesames in an oil

Complements: Salads, Stir-Fry, and any other Asian dish

Vinegar Pairings: Honey Ginger, Tangerine, Lemongrass Mint

Ideas:

  1. Use in any Asian Stir-Fry or similar dish for an authentic flavor
  2. Great to drizzle over any recipe for extra flavor
  3. Perfect with soy sauce, garlic and our Honey Ginger Balsamic for a zen Asian marinade

Butternut Squash Seed Oil

Due to customer requests – we’ve added this delicious specialty oil!

Flavor: Wonderful roasted, nutty flavor

Complements: Salads or as a finishing oil

Vinegar Pairings: Pair with any of our fine balsamic vinegars

Ideas:

  1. Combine with the Red Apple or Pumpkin Spice balsamic vinegars for a delicious fall salad dressing or marinade
  2. Use a drizzle of this oil this to finish off rice or any similar dish
  3. Drizzle over French Toast for a different and delicious flavor

The
Spicy Olive has a new specialty oil! Our customers have requested
Butternut Squash Seed oil so we now have it in store. It has a wonderful
roasted, nutty flavor. Use it in salad dressings or as a great
finishing oil as the flavors are just wonderful. The Butternut Squash
Seed oil also makes a really flavorful French toast!

Strawberry Shortcake

This one is a lot like our Easy Peasy Pie Filling post and makes a delicious summer desert.

You can use store-bought spongecake or make your own homemade shortcake:

Preheat oven to 425F.

2 1/3 c. baking mix (like Bisquick)
1/2 c. milk
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Simply mix ingredients until a soft dough forms. Then drop onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Slice the strawberries, then coat with 1/4 c. sugar and two tbsp. of The Spicy Olive’s Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar. Put this on top of your warm short bread and top with cool whipped cream. Yum!

Why not try this with other fruits – how about blueberry peach with They Spicy Olive’s Wild Blueberry Field Balsamic Vinegar!

Easy Peasy Pie Fillings

Store-bought pie filling is full of all kinds of chemicals and preservatives. And if you have kids, you probably know exactly how much sugar it has too!

But pies are the definition of all-American desert, and as summer approaches, so does pie season! What’s a mom to do?!

Make healthy homemade pie filling, of course! Sounds tough, we know. But it’s really oh, so easy. You’re going to wonder why you bought the canned junk in the first place!

Here are a couple examples, but you could customize for any fruit – the possibilities are endless!


Blueberry Pie filling
4 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. Wild Fields Blueberry Balsamic Vinegar from The Spicy Olive

Apple Pie Filling
3 medium sized apples, chunked
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. Cinnamon Pear Balsamic Vinegar from The Spicy Olive

Have you made a pie filling with balsamic vinegar? Let us know what you used and what you thought!

The Spicy Olive Coming to Hyde Park

The Spicy Olive is happy to announce that our second store will be opening in Hyde Park Square in early summer 2013! We will be located at the corner of Erie Avenues and Michigan Avenues. We will feature the same great fresh olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars that our customers have come to love in West Chester. Customers can sample the 20 varieties of olive oils and 30 varieties of balsamic vinegars then we bottle their selections for purchase. At The Spicy Olive, we invite you to taste the difference fresh makes!

Northern Hemisphere Single Varietal Olive Oils

     The fresh olive oils from the Northern Hemisphere are now at The Spicy Olive! Freshness is so important to an olive oil. All the good things that make olive oil healthy for you dissipate and disappear over time. The polyphenols, anti-oxidants and anti inflammatory agents found in olive oil break down over time and exposure to light, heat and air. Think about that the next time you are in a grocery store looking at the rows of olive oil. The consumer has no idea when that olive oil was crushed, usually they don’t know the country of origin and many of the bottles of oil are in clear glass under the bright store lights, the polyphenols and other healthy components are no longer in that olive oil!

     Our Northern Hemisphere single varietals have just arrived from Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Greece and California! They were picked and crushed in November and December 2012. These are the freshest olive oils you can find! The olive oils list country of origin, crush date, polyphenol counts and other chemical indicators that you cannot find at your traditional grocery store. The Spicy Olive is committed to bringing the freshest, healthiest olive oils to our customers. You can taste each variety before purchase so you can find the perfect olive oil for your tastes! Come to The Spicy Olive and taste the difference fresh makes!

New Study Touting Benefits of Olive Oil








The New England Journal of Medicine released a study on February 25, 2013 showing dramatic reduction of cardiovascular events in people consuming a diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil. A total of 7447 persons were enrolled in this study (age range 55-80 years) . Among persons with high cardiovascular risk, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with fresh extra virgin olive oil reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular events (30% reduction).

Mediterranean Barley Salad

2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup barley
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, chopped & pitted
1/2 cucumber or zucchini, chopped
red onion, diced
2/3 cup chopped parsley
cherry tomatoes, halved
avocado, chopped
feta cheese crumbles
Optional:
blanched, fresh broccoli florets
blanched, fresh cauliflower
cilantro, chopped
garbanzo beans
Dressing: 
1 cup The Spicy Olive’s organic Persian Lime or Cilantro and Onion olive oil
1/3 cup The Spicy Olive’s Honey Ginger white balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard or Roasted Garlic and Champagne(at The Spicy Olive)
salt and pepper to taste
Bring broth to boil in a medium saucepan. Add oil, barley and salt. Cover and cook until barley is tender, 30 minutes or 10 minutes for quick barley. Drain any excess liquid and allow barley to cool. 
Whisk salad dressing ingredients together. Toss cooled barley together with vegetables. Add salad dressing and serve!