The Story of Bramasole Olive Oil

In the serene hills around our home, Villa Bramasole, we handpick our olives and grind them without heat in the artisanal manner. The fresh and lively oil becomes the focus of feasts and celebrations every fall, and a source of pleasure in the kitchen all year. We’ve come to believe that each spoonful of this sublime oil connects us to the roots of life in this ancient Tuscan landscape and with the great old Mediterranean sun.

After the harvest each year, we have a testing for friends in our kitchen, with oils from several regions of Tuscany. We’ve learned from Beppe, who helps us with the olives, that the first test is to watch how the oil behaves when poured onto a piece of bread. If it “skis” off, that’s a bad sign. The oil should pool and stay and gradually absorb, but should not run. The Tuscans simply taste with a tablespoon – something I can’t manage no matter how much I love the olive. Our friends, as we do, always select the local oil as having the most pizzazz – a greeny, fruity taste with a slightly spicy afterbite. The oil is the highest quality first cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil – a blend of olives from Moraiolo, Frantoio, and Leccino trees.

More and more cooks are concerned with the true origin of the olive oil found on their stores’ shelves. Many “Italian” oils contain olives from Greece, Spain, or Turkey. When we say Bramasole is handpicked under the Tuscan sun, we mean it.

Bramasole is pronounced “brah – mah – so’ – lay” and means “yearning for the sun”.