Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I was giddy with excitement to see the sales rep from Pukara Estate at the cheese shop today.  That’s because he was pulling out long elegant bottles of this year’s release of the Pukara Estate Novello.

This amazing liquid is the very first cold pressed olive oil from Pukara’s 2009 harvest. It’s bottled straight off the press, unfiltered, and is designed for immediate consumption.  Unlike most olive oils which are allowed to settle in dark glass to increase their shelf life, the Novello is bottled in clear, and is to be used straight away, while it is still young, cloudy and green.  Basically, it is fresh fruit juice, bottled from olives that were on the tree a week ago.  It has a delicious, slightly peppery flavour, a luscious mouthfeel and a long, long finish you can taste for minutes afterwards.  In some ways, the Novello is to regular EVOO what fresh apple juice is to apple cider.

While the keeping time is supposedly six months, the oil  is really at its best as soon as it is pressed.  We will enjoy our bottle right now, while it is at its peak, mourn its passing when the last drop has been consumed, and look forward with eager anticipation to next year’s release.  Only 1500 bottles were made in 2009, all of them numbered (ours is bottle 668).  At $35/bottle, it’s a very affordable annual indulgence!