Incredible aroma, fresh taste and signature vivid emerald colour are just a few words that describe Spain’s best-kept – and most delicious secret – Picualia Olive Oil.
This super premium extra virgin olive oil elevates practically any food to the next level, whether you’re marinating meats, sauteing vegetables, drizzling on salads and pasta or simply dipping with sourdough and balsamic. The unique extraction process is so sympathetic to the olives that it preserves more of the renowned nutrients of olive oil providing optimum health benefits.
The world-class Picual olives are grown in the heart of Andalusia, in the beautiful Sierra Morena, with an impressive backdrop of olive groves as far as the eye can see. This region is the largest olive growing area in the world with the perfect climate, altitude and soil conditions.
The olives are selected at the precise moment of ripeness across the harvest and collection is purely by mechanical means, before being cold-pressed – no heat processing, blending or additives – just 100% pure extra virgin olive oil. Each batch is carefully tasted by the Head of the Picualia Mill – also the top olive oil sommelier in Spain.
The Range
Choose from Picualia Exclusive Reserve and Picualia Gourmet variants.
Harvested in mid-November, Picualia Exclusive Reserve is a medium fruity olive oil – full bodied and beautifully rounded, with complex green nuances, clean, silky-smooth aromatic-spiciness and a perfectly balanced fruitiness to pepperiness ratio. The taste is reminiscent of freshly cut grass, tomato of the vine, sweet almond with a beautiful herbaceous aroma. Packaged in a stunning and distinctive glass bottle.
Softly fruity, mellow and perfectly balanced, Picualia Gourmet Olive Oil is fresh on the nose and has a slightly more subtle taste, due to the ripeness of the late November olive.
Both bottles are fully recyclable and feature a unique mechanism for precise pouring – like a fine wine.
Co-Directors and sisters, Tara Chicharro and Wizzy Tye, immediately recognised that Picualia oil was worlds apart from the olive oils available in the UK and felt that British consumers were missing out. Together they now run the UK Picualia business.
Healthy as well as delicious
Oleic acid in olive oil acts as an antioxidant and has been shown to increase absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K. Growing evidence also suggests that compounds called polyphenols in olives, not only enhance the oil’s flavour profile, they are shown to promote protection against a range of diseases through their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Extra-virgin olive oil is the unrefined oil drawn from the first pressing of olives and promotes the most beneficial health effects. However inferior growing, harvesting and production methods can affect the number of polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil.
Picualia olives are carefully monitored throughout the growing process, harvested at peak ripeness and pressed to preserve the volatile optimum polyphenol content and nutrient profiles. As a result, the Picualia range contains over 70% oleic acid. Research shows that A 20g daily intake of olive oil with this oleic acid level can reduce coronary heart disease risk as part of a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle*. You can also immediately recognise the quality from the complexity of tasting notes within Picualia oils ranging from herbaceous, grassy notes, apple, and softer fig leaf.
Picualia Exclusive Reserve is available from Harvey Nichols and Selfridges or direct from www.chicharroandtye.co.uk
Picualia Gourmet is available from Selfridges direct from www.chicharroandtye.co.uk
*Source: US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the E.F.S.A European Regulation claim.
