Intro
The Olive Library began for me out of a newly discovered passion for the world of high-quality olive oil and a desire to share this passion with others. This is a personal journey for me as much as it is a business venture, which means I set a lot of store in ensuring my business adheres to values I feel I can personally uphold.
These commitments are not just the throwaway statements a lot of companies use on their “About Us” pages, but things I believe very deeply in and see as foundational to the kind of business I want to run. At every stage of The Olive Library, from visiting producers to ensure the best quality products to helping fulfil your orders in a timely manner, I am there to make sure everything meets my personal standards and creates the best possible experience for you.
Heritage
Making olive oil is perhaps one of our oldest continuous traditions in food. In Italy alone, there is evidence of olive oil production dating as far back as the third millennium BC. This leaves behind an incredible tradition that carries over from generation to generation into today’s cultivation and production practices. Even as technology is starting to revolutionise certain methods, I still see in even the most state-of-the-art facilities a living history unlike any other.
This is why it is so important to me that my business not only respect but also champion the incredible heritage of the olive oil world, working to educate my customers and share stories that help people to understand how precious and worth preserving these things are. This is what you don’t get when you just go to the grocery store and buy a bottle off the shelf—the power and vitality of history that you engage with when you purchase a seemingly unremarkable bottle of high-quality olive oil, and it is a key part of the story I want to tell with The Olive Library.
Quality
Quality means many things with olive oil, beyond the simple label of “extra virgin” which counts for something but definitely isn’t the whole story. As technology is changing how we can grow olives and produce olive oil, it’s also changing our understanding of the health benefits that only the highest quality oils can offer.
I’ve certainly felt the benefits of incorporating more high-quality olive oil into my diet, and the more research that emerges on the benefits of ingredients like polyphenols, which quality olive oils have much more of, the more I see the value in it.
My commitment to offering only the finest olive oils to my customers extends from my own personal concern with the quality of foods I put in my own body and my own efforts to live a healthier lifestyle. I will never cut corners or select products I know fall short of my own standards when curating the Olive Library’s offering and offer as much transparency as possible in regards to harvest dates, olive oil sourcing and other details that ensure the finest possible quality.
Education
Everyday is a learning experience for me when it comes to better understanding the world of olive oil. I’ve worked hard to accumulate enough knowledge to feel that I know what I’m talking about, but at the same time it’s important to me that I spread this knowledge as much as possible, rather than gatekeeping.
This is why a key focus of mine with The Olive Library is educating others on everything from the finer points of olive oil tasting and how to pair it with food, to more in-depth subjects like the health benefits of polyphenols and how factors like location and harvest times impact taste. There is so much to learn and I make it my mission, as I work towards becoming a true olive oil connoisseur, to share all my knowledge with everyone willing to listen and make you all connoisseurs also.
Conclusion
These key values are not only promises to you but also commitments I make to myself in each day in how I run The Olive Library. They are as essential to this business as the olive oil itself and things you can count on me to always uphold. I invite you now to experience all of this for yourself, by exploring The Olive Library’s carefully curated selection of premium olive oils and seeing the difference in quality and taste for yourself.