The Magazine of The Sierra Club
Small Oil: 5 Eco-Friendly Ways to Cook
Buy your cooking grease from family-owned estates and you're much likelier to be helping the planet
You fret about Big Oil. But how about the oil you use to make dinner? Sierra's partners at the Good Food Awards gave this some thought. The organization, which honors food products that are as tasty as they are environmentally virtuous, established strict criteria for oils, requiring responsibly grown ingredients, a manufacturing process that ensures integrity and flavor, and workers who are treated fairly.
All the GFA-winning oils are pressed and bottled sans heat, artificial additives, or chemical extractors. Their ingredients are locally sourced, never genetically modified, and grown with "minimal to no synthetic inputs." And of course, they also satisfied the palates of expert food tasters.
"Good oil can be difficult to find," says Jane Lee, who chairs the GFA's oil committee. "Most cooking oils on store shelves are imported from other countries, and quality varies tremendously."
The products featured here, by contrast, are all domestic and certified for extra-virgin-grade taste and texture. (Oils can be labeled "extra virgin" if their extraction process involves only cold-pressing and no chemicals, and if they stay under a certain level of acidity.) These are all winners, according to the folks at the GFA.
BERKELEY OLIVE GROVE 1913
Butte Valley, California
Mission Olives & Blood Orange Oil
Darro and Olivia Grieco, a husband-and-wife team, run the 400-acre, certified-organic Berkeley Olive Grove 1913 estate on which century-old trees are dry-farmed, clippings become mulch, and goats pull weeds. They make this flavored oil by simultaneously crushing blood oranges with late-harvested black olives. "We want the oil from the peel," Olivia says. Its delicate flavor is slightly bitter, with a peppery finish—a result of the high level of polyphenols, which improve cardiovascular health. Pour it over vanilla ice cream, bake it into brownies, or use it to pop open flavors in soups or salads.
Photo by Lori Eanes
STONY BROOK WHOLEHEARTED FOODS
Geneva, New York
Delicata Squash Seed Oil
"Stony Brook's roasted squash seed oils aren't just delicious," Lee says. "They're sustainability standouts, too." Greg Woodworth and Kelly Coughlin get the seeds for their oils from a local farm that would otherwise throw them out. They worked with scientists at Cornell University to learn how to turn the seeds into an oil whose flavor hints at "hazelnuts, tamarind, dried figs, and a little bit of cardamom." Use it on salad or hummus, for roasting cauliflower or butternut squash, or for grilling scallops, or, as Lee recommends, "put it out with fresh bread for dipping to bring attention to its beautiful ambercolor and rich taste."
Photo by Lori Eanes
HAMMONS PRODUCTS COMPANY
Stockton, Missouri
Roasted Black Walnut Oil
Most walnuts sold in stores are English walnuts, which originated in Central Asia and were brought to North America by the British. This expeller-pressed roasted black walnut oil, however, is made from hand-harvested American black walnuts, "a delicious species that is native to the United States," says Lee. It tastes earthy and nutty, so the Hammons family suggests using it to cook meats, in vinaigrettes or mashed potatoes, or anywhere you'd use olive or truffle oil.
Photo by Lori Eanes
MOONSHADOW GROVE
Oroville, California
Ascolano Extra Virgin Olive Oil
It's a natural ecosystem at MoonShadow Grove: Raptors eat rodents, clippings fertilize the land, and cows help keep the grass trimmed. The estate's winning oil, whose tasting notes include words like "fruity," "floral," and "buttery," comes from a single olive varietal: Ascolano. In addition to being a GFA winner, this product also took gold at the California Olive Oil Council's 2014 competition. It's best paired with cheese, especially goat varieties or fresh mozzarella.
Photo by Lori Eanes
TIBER CANYON RANCH
San Luis Obispo, California
California Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Visit Chris Anderson and Will Carlton's Tiber Canyon Ranch during fall harvest and you'll see more than 100 friends picking the fruit that turns into their extra-virgin olive oil. "We make it a party," they say. "We have live music and excellent food, and everyone has fun." They maintain their grove using organic and sustainable farming practices that emphasize water conservation—they didn't water this season because of the drought—and they keep a chunk of their land pristine so that native plants and animals can coexist. Tasting notes for this Tuscan-style, late-harvest olive oil include descriptors like "mellow," "fruity," and "mildly piquant." It's best on salads and in pasta sauces.
Photo by Lori Eanes
