1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (126 page)

What is left to say about olive oil? Since Old Testament times and even before, the sunny bronze, deliciously earthy and complex substance has been celebrated in contexts ranging from poetry to cosmetology (sometimes to the point of tiresome hype). Praised as much for its health-inducing qualities as for its contributions to gourmandise, the oil—prized perhaps more than the olives themselves—is the product of a beautifully gnarled, silver-leafed tree that can flourish for centuries.

Native to the Middle East, the
Olea europaea
is deeply rooted (literally, as its roots sometimes plunge 20 feet down into the ground) around the Mediterranean Sea, where it has long been cherished for the golden, green-tinged oil distilled from its bitter oval fruits. Greek athletes prized the oil as a coating for the skin, using it during competitions to create a barrier against dust. But early gastronomes also recognized the earthen oil’s unrivaled potential in the kitchen, using it as a simple dip for salads and vegetables—history’s first salad dressing—or as an aid in cooking.

Obtained by extraction, the oil is drawn from a paste of crushed olives, pit and all. Differences in pressing technique result in varying levels of quality, which trickle down according to labeling regulations meted out by the International Olive Council, headquartered in Madrid, and by various regional certification groups. While heated or repeated extractions draw the largest quantity of oil, single cold pressings produce some of the highest-quality oils, full-flavored and ranging from fruity and flowery to grassy and intensely sour-bitter, often with a peppery aftertaste. “Extra virgin” refers to oils that have been simply milled, pressed, and centrifuged, using no chemicals or heat. To receive this demarcation, the oil must also pass a tasting panel and tests measuring free fatty acids (extra virgin oils consist of less than 1 percent fatty acids, while virgin oils contain less than 2 percent).

Olives are grown and pressed throughout the Mediterranean and in places with similarly warm climates, including California and New Zealand, but the most delicate and nuanced oil derives from olives grown in France. There, small, ripe, black olives create sweet oils with an earthy patina that hints of the Provence sun. Italy, no slouch in this department either, harvests taggiasca olives around Liguria and Tuscany to create crisp, fruity oils that provide the perfect light dressing for any salad. And in Spain, one of the world’s largest oil-producing countries, picual olives are pressed into peppery oils that are excellent for cooking. But that’s only the beginning of the story. There are dozens of olive varieties, and
the fruits produce hundreds of differently textured and flavored oils—their nuances inspire a connoisseurship that rivals that of oenophiles. (Right down to the notion of tastings.)

Mail order:
Zingerman’s, tel 888-636-8162,
zingermans.com
;
olio2go.com
, tel 866-654-6246.
Further information:
A Mediterranean Feast
by Clifford A. Wright (1999);
oliveoilsource.com
; Italian olive oil,
olio2go.com
; Spanish olive oil,
oliveoilfromspain.com
; Greek olive oil,
greekoliveoils.com
; French olive oil,
creme-delanguedoc.com
(search olive oil).
Special events:
New York International Olive Oil Competition, New York City, April,
nyoliveoil.com
; Olive Tree and Olive Oil Festival, Brisighella, Italy, November,
brisighella.org
(click Events).
Tip:
Olive oil should be stored in dark-colored glass bottles kept in cool, dark places. The chlorophyll that is responsible for the oil’s bronze-green hue also makes it sensitive to light.

An elemental candy made of sesame and honey.

A confection that we might take for granted, owing to its wide presence in health food stores and at some of the most ordinary candy counters and shops, sesame seed brittle can be a tantalizing and exotic treat—and it’s a sweet fix one can feel nobly healthy about.

Relatively inexpensive because of the simplicity of its ingredients,
semsemiyeh
(pronounced sin-see-MEE-yah) owes its magical reputation to those tiny, crackling golden sesame seeds. The crunchy, usually honey-sweetened candy provides a between-meals lift to children and adults alike. Sugar sometimes stands in, and flavorings like rose-or orange blossom water or even vanilla extract may be added to the mix. If preparing this candy at home, taste the sesame seeds to be sure they are not rancid.

Makes about 12 servings

Sesame, peanut, or canola oil, for oiling the work surface

1¼ cups golden honey

1 scant teaspoon rosewater or orange blossom water, or ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1¼ cups sesame seeds

1.
Prepare a baking sheet or marble slab by brushing the surface lightly with sesame, peanut, or canola oil, and oil the surface of a wooden rolling pin.

2.
Bring the honey to a boil in a heavy 2-quart saucepan over low heat. Watch it very carefully, as honey can boil over all at once, making a terrific and dangerous mess. Turn off the heat as soon as honey begins to boil and add the rosewater, orange blossom water, or vanilla.

3.
Quickly stir in the sesame seeds and beat the
mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon until it becomes thick and opaque, about 7 minutes. Pour the sesame seed mixture onto the prepared work surface and, using the prepared rolling pin and a light pressure, roll it flat to a thickness of about ¼ inch. Using a wide blade knife, quickly cut the sesame brittle into roughly 1-by 2-inch lozenge shapes before the candy has hardened. Let the brittle harden in a cool room overnight.

4.
When thoroughly hardened, the sesame brittle pieces should be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a cool, dry place.

Retail and mail order:
In New York
, for seeds and flower waters, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-3451,
kalustyans.com
; Sahadi’s, tel 718-624-4550,
sahadis.com
.
Mail order:
candy.com
(search joyva sesame honey crunch); amazon.com (search joyva sesame bars; kevala organic toasted sesame seeds; kay white rosewater; nielsen-massey orange blossom water).
Further information nd additional recipe:
The Arabian Delights Cookbook
by Anne Marie Weiss-Armush (1993).
Tip:
Try this treat with hot mint tea, as they do in the Middle East.

A classic among salads.

There’s a lot of good cooking done throughout the Middle East, but some would argue that the most elegant versions of many of the region’s dishes can be found in Lebanon. Nowhere is this argument borne out more noticeably than in the country’s dazzling array of meze appetizers, with some Beirut cafés and restaurants offering assortments that contain between twenty and thirty exquisitely laid-out little dishes. Always among those (along with
hummus bi tahini
, baba ghanoush, and diced feta cheese with black olives and thyme) is tabbouleh, the bulgur, parsley, and mint salad whose popularity has resulted in many unfortunate incidents of mass-production.

In the real deal, toasty, nutty, bulgur wheat lends heft and intrigue to an onion-and-lemon-scented mix. The addition of tomato is optional—preferably as a side, so that its juices do not water down the verdant, leafy mix.

Serves about 8 as part of mixed mezes

1 cup medium-grain bulgur (use unprocessed, not precooked bulgur)

1 cup finely chopped new, sweet onion

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1½ cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves

½ cup finely chopped spearmint leaves

½ cup finely chopped, drained tomatoes (optional), plus sliced tomatoes, for garnish

About ¾ cup olive oil

Juice of ½ large lemon

Pita bread or sturdy lettuce leaves, for serving

1.
Rinse the bulgur under cold running water several times until the water is clear. Soak the bulgur in cold water to cover for about 2 hours. Drain the bulgur, pressing out the excess water.

2.
Place the bulgur in a mixing bowl and stir in the onion, salt, and pepper until well distributed. Add the parsley, spearmint, chopped
tomatoes, if using, and just enough olive oil to make a moist mix without any excess unabsorbed oil.

3.
Gradually add lemon juice to taste; the flavor should be pleasantly but not overwhelmingly tart. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or pepper as necessary.

4.
Serve the tabbouleh on a platter garnished with the tomato wedges and offer plenty of pita bread or loose lettuce leaves for scooping.

Where:
In New York
, Ali Baba at two locations, tel 212-683-9209,
alibabaturkishcuisine.com
.
Retail and mail order:
In New York
, for bulgur, Kalustyan’s, tel 800-352-3451,
kalustyans.com
(search bulghar);
in Brooklyn
, Sahadi’s, tel 718-624-4550,
sahadis.com
(search bulgur).
Tip:
The essence of tabbouleh is freshness, with all ingredients chopped together no more than two hours before they are served. However, flavor improves during the first half hour, when the tabbouleh should be held, loosely covered, in the refrigerator.

So certain are some chefs that no guest actually eats the clumps of parsley garnishing their plates, they may not bother to wash it—an unfortunate reality for anyone biting into an unpleasant dose of grit, and an injustice to boot. Believed to whet the appetite and, due to its chlorophyll content, to sweeten the breath, delicious fresh parsley
should
be considered a green vegetable. As a bonus, it has virtually no calories and is high in Vitamin C and minerals such as iron, potassium, and sulfur salts, and also in antioxidants and fiber.

The herb is a member of the
Umbelliferea
botanical family, as is celery, and in fact the two are so closely related that ancient Greeks called them both
selinum
; the ancient Romans called parsley
Petroselinum
, hence its botanical name,
Petroselinum crispum.
Difficult to grow though hardy once propagated, in Medieval times it was thought to be the plant of the devil, one that could be planted successfully only on Good Friday, and only if the moon was rising. Though an old English country saying warned that “Only the wicked can grow parsley,” the plant has also been considered a harbinger of spring, figuring in the celebrations of both Passover and Easter.