Olive oil & lemon from Fruchtwerker. Extra virgin olive oil with lemon – lemons and olives pressed together.
Olive oil & lemon from Fruchtwerker is an extra virgin olive oil from Crete in which Koroneiki olives and lemons are crushed together and cold-pressed: 96 percent olive oil, 4 percent lemon oil from the pressing process. No added flavorings, no subsequently added essences. 250 ml – a finishing oil for fish, vegetables, and salad, rather than a cooking oil.
Olive oil with lemon is one of the most sought-after flavored oils of all – and one where quality makes the biggest difference. The cheaper variety is olive oil with lemon flavoring. This one is an oil where the lemons are taken to the mill with the olives and pressed together with them. The essential oils from the peel bind to the olive oil, and the result tastes like lemon rather than perfume. Fruchtwerker has it pressed in Crete and offers it as a partner to their lemon vinegar.
Green oil, fresh peel, worlds away from lemon candy
The oil is first and foremost an olive oil: fruity, slightly grassy, with the mild bitterness and slight tingle in the throat that a young extra virgin oil from Koroneiki olives brings with it. The lemon sits on top – distinct in the aroma, and in the taste, it presents as the freshness of the peel with a subtle bitterness that suits the olive. In the finish, the lemon lingers longer than the oil.
The color is golden green. The lemon is aromatic rather than sour – the acidity is left behind during the pressing process. Anyone familiar with lemon-flavored oils will immediately notice the difference: flavorings sit on top of the oil, while crushed fruit is in the oil, tasting of peel rather than candy.
Two caveats: This is not an oil for the pan. Lemon aromas are volatile, heat destroys them, and an extra virgin olive oil belongs in cold dishes anyway. And anyone expecting acidity because the label says lemon will be disappointed – that comes from the vinegar, not the oil.
Fish, steamed vegetables, soup, and the fastest salad in the world
The oil belongs at the end of cooking. Pour a spoonful over fried or grilled fish – sea bream, salmon, trout – just before the plate reaches the table. Pour it over steamed vegetables: green beans, broccoli, zucchini, asparagus. Add it at the end to a fish soup or a light vegetable soup. Fruchtwerker names exactly these four: fish, salad, steamed vegetables, soups.
In dressings, it is the partner for light vinegars: two tablespoons of olive oil & lemon, one tablespoon of lemon & vinegar, salt – that is a dressing in ten seconds. Great for cucumber salad, tomato salad, couscous, bulgur, or a salad with fennel and orange. It also works with pomegranate & vinegar for Oriental-style cuisine.
And for cooking without a recipe: A piece of white bread, the oil, sea salt. Or mozzarella with tomato, using only this oil and pepper. For pasta: spaghetti with the oil, Parmesan, pepper, and some pasta water – a dish made in the time it takes to boil the noodles.
Good to know: Store in a cool, dark place and keep tightly sealed; essential oils are sensitive to light and air. Consume within a few months of opening. The refrigerator is the wrong place – olive oil flocculates there, which is harmless, but it doesn't look very appetizing.
A recipe shown by Fruchtwerker: Grilled sea bream “Lemon” – the whole fish from the grill, cut open, with olive oil & lemon, sea salt, and fresh herbs. Lemon juice and butter are unnecessary; the oil is enough. It works the same way with a trout from the oven or with shrimp from the pan.
For vegetables: green beans with garlic and the oil, steamed broccoli with almonds and the oil, baked potatoes with rosemary and the oil. It is the oil you add at the end to everything on the plate that needs a touch of freshness. It is not suitable for roasting, frying, or anything that gets hot – it is too precious for that, and the lemon is too volatile.
Crete provides the oil, Talkau the label
The Koroneiki olives and the lemons grow in the Messara Plain on the southern coast of Crete. Both are hand-harvested, crushed together, and cold-pressed. Pressing them together is what distinguishes it from flavored oils: the essential oils of the lemon peel combine with the olive oil during pressing instead of being added later. The result is 96 percent olive oil and 4 percent lemon oil from the same pressing.
Fruchtwerker is a vinegar manufactory in Schleswig-Holstein that has the oil pressed in Crete – by a producer with whom they collaborate; it is bottled under the Fruchtwerker label. It is the perfect complement to their fruit vinegars: if you have the lemon vinegar on your shelf, this oil is its ideal counterpart.
The oil is extra virgin, cold-pressed, without additives – the lemon comes solely from the pressing. Together with the olive oil & orange, it forms the small oil side of a range that otherwise consists of vinegar.
The oil for everyone who cooks fish
Lemon oil is the flavored oil that takes on the most tasks in a kitchen that prepares fish and vegetables. It replaces the lemon wedge on the plate and simultaneously provides the dish with the oil it needs anyway.
As a gift, it is perfect for people who eat Mediterranean-style, and it makes a great package with the lemon vinegar – two bottles, one dressing; for fish, the oil alone is enough. Anyone who prefers a sweeter version should choose the orange oil.
An olive oil with lemon, lemons and olives from one press in Crete – for sea bream, beans, and white bread with salt.
