Chive Oil and Balsamic Oil

Greetings to all you foodies out there in cyber land!!  Chef Dave here for The Laughing Pear Group.  I wanted to share a few things about oils.  When we all go out to a nice restaurant there is a good chance you will see some kind of oil on one of your plates.   Of course, if you are having a salad, you be having a vinaigrette that has oil in it.  How did they make that oil?  How did it get green, red, or even purple?   I have always found oils to be fascinating.  Of course extra virgin olive oil is my favorite.  What is EVOO?  What is the difference between EVOO and, say, a vegetable oil?  Let us start with the basics of oils before we look  at oils that have been infused.

BASIC OILS:

Vegetable Oil – These oils are extracted from a variety of plants, like corn, cotton seed, grape seeds, sesame seeds and Soybeans.

Canola Oil – These oils are processed from rapeseed. This oil is growing in popularity because it has no cholesterol and has a very high percentage of monounsaturated fats.  This oil is used for frying and overall general cooking because the price and the fact it has no flavors.

Nut Oil –  Nut oils are extracted from a variety of different nuts, they are usually packaged as a Pure product and not blended.  These are some of my favorite oils.  Peanut oil I love.  We here at The Laughing Pear Group us walnut oils, hazelnut oils and even pine nut oils.  These oils should have a strong aroma of the nut flavoring.

Olive Oil – Here is somethng that most people do not know.  An olive oil is the only oil that is extracted from a fruit rather than a seed, nut or grain.  Olives are used of course and there are a few different presses that create olive oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil –  Example, the fist cold pressing of olives results in virgin olive oil.  The word “Virgin” is designated when the oil is 100% unadulterated, unheated, and without any chemical processing.

Flavored Oils – Oils that are infused with another food product.  Chive oil,  parsley oils, etc.  Our chive oil we make here is pretty simple.  We take a bundle of chives and place them in boiling water for 20 seconds.  Pat try and place in Vita Mix with the oil.  Then strain overnight in coffee filter. We us canola oil for all our flavored oils as we do not want the oil to have any flavor so we can enhance our added products flavor.