A Taste of Robbins Family Farm

The diversity of olive oils coming out of California continues to amaze me. Just this past weekend, I finally sat down again with my tasting buddy, my wife, and tried an array of extra virgin olive oils from the tiny Robbins Family Farm, out of San Luis Obispo, Calif. (You can order from their website.)

I chopped a plain ciabatta into small, bite-size pieces. Grabbed a fresh organic tomato and sliced it into wedges, and sprinkled Greek sea salt on the pieces, and Greek oregano, too. A bowl of hummus was on the table, as were a few pieces of a freshly baked spinach-and-feta-cheese pie ("spanakopita"). Indeed, it was a tasting exercise, but it was also a healthy Saturday afternoon lunch, too.

We tasted four oils: Tuscan Blend, Ascolano (single varietal), Jesse's Harmony Blend, and Eve's Mandarin blend. I know some reviewers like to keep you in suspense till the end, before they tell you what their favorite item was. Not me.

I swooned over the Ascolano olive oil. This is an oil the likes of which I haven't tasted before, and I'm excited about the fact that it is single varietal, and not a blend. On my first taste of it, from a small cup-like saucer, I picked up notes of thyme and fennel, a hint of celery, and in the end, I kept thinking: Mountain herbs.

"Mmmmmm. That's nice," said my wife. "I like that...It would be really good with squash."

Later that night, during dinner, I poured drips of the Ascolano onto steamed, farmers'-market-fresh broccoli, and swooned some more. It brought the steamed veggies to life with an herby flavor and aroma that was so simple, but so sublime. I can tell you for a fact that I have drizzled probably dozens of kinds of olive oil onto steamed veggies in my lifetime, but this time -- with the Ascolano -- was an instant memory. I devoured the broccoli. Here's an idea: If you're having trouble getting your child to eat his or her vegetables, pour a few dabs of this oil on the greens!

The other oils were good, too. The Tuscan Blend was very grassy, with notes of green pepper and avocado, and a very slight peppery finish, which I would describe more as a simmer than a burn. It is a mild oil, but hearty and not delicate.

Jesse's Harmony Blend was both mild and delicate on our palates. My wife was a fan of it, though I was okay with it -- I tasted it after the Ascolano, so perhaps my taste buds hadn't fully adjusted after the razzle-dazzle. But really, our taste buds can be very different. (For instance, I put crazy amounts of salt on everything; she doesn't -- our salt tolerances are comically different, and can lead to skirmishes at the stove when we're cooking. But, I digress.) My wife felt a slight pepper finish in the "high back of my mouth," she said. I picked up a citrus aroma, while she tasted broccoli. We both agreed that it had a subtle and elusive flavor.

Eve's Mandarin Blend is a different twist on the citrus flavored olive oils that are popular today. Most oils on the market with a citrus flavor are either infused or pressed with regular oranges, blood oranges, or lemons. The Robbins Family went with the mandarin, my favorite of citrus fruits.

Right out of the gate, the oil was better and tastier than I thought it would be. It is unique. Its aroma is far stronger than the taste, which is a good thing -- you never want to feel like you've just licked an orange peel when trying these kinds of oils. Subtlety is key. My wife envisioned making a nice vinaigrette with it, or even maybe using it in her seasonal pumpkin bread recipe. "It's like dessert," my wife said at one point.

All in all, these are good quality oils from a small producer, at a reasonable price. It's nice to see a family-run operation that takes pride in their product and is willing to produce not one -- but four -- different types of oils. My hat's off to them.

Happy tasting! -- Costas