The Aceite Olivo Experience, with the tasting carts lined up outside Palacio San Telmo in Seville.
Display of EVOOs - in all shapes of bottles and tins.
Anyone who knows Andalucia will know the importance of
olive oil in the diet here. For breakfast, on toast, in cold soups, to dress salads, poured over everything from potatoes to fish.
This week in Seville, you can taste a variety of dishes which are being made with EVOO - extra virgin olive oil, as well as seeing an exhibition of more than 200 olive oils. More than half of these hail from Andalucia, especially Jaen and Cordoba provinces, such as
Cortijo Espiritu Santo, although also Seville, Almeria and Malaga.
This exhibition, Aceite de Oliva, Toda Una Experiencia, which takes place in a temporary marquee outside Palacio San Telmo, near Puerta Jerez in Seville, is on until 5 June.
Preparing aliñado de patatas.
Crushing the garlic for ajo-aceite.
Among the tapas you can try are
polea, a cold, thick soup of grapes, milk, flour, and of course olive oil;
aliñado de patatas (potatoes, spring onions, parsley, sherry vinegar and olive oil) ,
carpaccio de presa with pipirana (salad of finely chopped peppers, onions, tomatoes and olive oil), and
asadillo de pimiento (roasted peppers).
The four main varieties of olive oil.
Tasting area of Olive Oil Experience.
If you've never tried different varieties of olive oil, it's well worth tasting these to learn how distinctive the colours, flavours and aromas are - you may have seen the yellow tasting carts around the city over the past few days. The four types of olive oil used in the tastings are sweet
arbequina, aromatic
cornicabra, fruity
hojiblanca and spicy
picual.
If you don't manage to make it to this tasting experience, be sure to experiment with olive oils next time you're shopping - try a new one; a whole new world of sensations awaits.
