Onsuri Signature Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Named Jordan’s “Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil,” Onsuri’s Signature Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil is rich and buttery with soft grassy notes and a slight finish of pepper at the back of the throat. It’s mild enough to use for everyday cooking but contains sweet buttery notes that also make it ideal as a finishing oil. And at a comparable price point to other EVOO’s in the supermarket, you’ll get award-winning quality and flavor without sacrificing your wallet. Owner Ziad Bilbeisi designed this oil for everyday use. He imported trees of Europe’s most prestigious olive varieties—Greek Koroneiki, and Spanish Arbequina and Arbosana—and planted them alongside local Nabali olive trees. Once ripe, the olives are picked and pressed within hours. The rugged landscape of Bilbeisi’s 300-acre, solar-powered family farm in Jordan makes for fruity, aromatic and intense olives and even better olive oil.
Bona Furtuna Paccheri
Rich and nutty, Bona Furtuna’s SOFI Gold award-winning Paccheri—a large tubular pasta designed to aid smugglers in the 1600s—is made with ancient grains grown in Sicily. Despite the use of robust, organic, non-GMO ancient grains, which give the noodles a slightly darker hue, we were surprised to find that the pasta has a soft, tender texture. Extruding the noodles through bronze plates gives them a porous texture that clings beautifully to sauce, improving the final flavor of pasta dishes. Try it with a chunky ragù or meaty Bolognese, or stuffed with ricotta or sausage.
Suehiro Double Brewed Soy Sauce
Since 1879, Suehiro has used the same traditional methods to make their small-batch soy sauces in Japan’s Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture. We were especially wowed by their Double-Brewed Soy Sauce, or Saishikomi, which is deeply layered in comparison to any run-of-the-mill grocery version. Unlike most on the market, this soy is brewed not once but twice, first delicately with soybeans, wheat, salt, water and koji. Then, the mixture is brewed again, this time without salt or water, yielding an earthy, rich and viscous soy sauce that stands apart. It’s salty, but less so than other brands, with funky, coffee-like notes that round out into a dark, almost burnt caramelly sweetness. Use it anywhere you would soy sauce, but we love it most served simply with dishes that have few ingredients, like hand rolls and sashimi.
Masseria Mirogallo Hand-Peeled Tomatoes
Produced by the Belfiore family in the province of Matera (one of Italy’s oldest towns), these hand-peeled tomatoes are stunningly packaged and taste terrific—sweet, fruity, bright and bold.
Norður & Co Garum Fish Sauce Infused with Nordur Sea Salt
Originally used as a condiment by the Phoenicians and ancient Romans, garam is a fermented fish sauce that adds a rich umami flavor to savory dishes, oftentimes using oily fish. We especially love this version from Danish producer Norður & Co, which only uses autumn mackerel from Breiðafjörður. Autumn is the ideal time to catch mackerel, since it’s at the end of their fishing season and the fish have had time to develop a rich, fatty flavor by then. Mackerel is also a much more mild fish than those that typically are in fish sauces (anchovies, sardines, etc.), yielding a more mellow flavor and a light sweetness without the abrasive, too-salty kick that some fish sauces have. It’s also made with Iceland’s famous Norður salt—which is evaporated from arctic seawater and has an unmatched, clean taste.
Tenorio Tuna Fillet in Olive Oil
Line caught around the Azores, a carefully managed group of Portuguese islands in the North Atlantic, Tenorio’s Tuna Fillets in Olive Oil are nothing like the canned tuna you’re used to. Tender and moist, this tuna is cut into large pieces before being packed in buttery extra virgin olive oil. Lightly salted with a briny, clean fish flavor, each tender cut is just as good on its own as it is added to a salad or sandwich. Established in 1880, Tenorio sustainably fishes all of their skipjack tuna and is committed to maintaining a healthy ocean wildlife population.
Acetaia Leonardi White Balsamic Vinegar
This white balsamic from Acetaia Leonardi is aged for eight years in oak barrels, so its flavor is exceptionally smooth and rounded. We like its honeyed fruit undertones and full-bodied consistency, which comes from the aging process and is a key indicator of a vinegar's quality. The family producer has been making vinegar since 1871 and is one of the last in Modena, Italy, to grow the same grapes that they use to make their vinegar. Try using this vinegar for brightness in our White Balsamic and Tarragon Chicken or Belgian Mashed Potatoes with Winter Vegetables (Stoemp); it will sharpen flavors and add dimension without calling too much attention to itself the way other vinegars do. Or drizzling it over roasted vegetables, such as in our Roasted Carrots with Balsamic Raisins and Pine Nuts or Slow-Roasted Tomatoes. We like to use a couple tablespoons to deglaze the pan after roasting meats, scraping up the browned bits and finishing with butter. White balsamic vinegar even plays a key role in our Harissa, for a mild acidity as a counterpoint for the earthy spices in the hot pepper paste.
Espelt Garnatxa Red Wine Vinegar
Made from 100 percent black grenache—or “garnatxa” in Catalan—grapes, this red wine vinegar from winemakers Espelt Viticultors has more depth and character than other vinegars we’ve tried. Because it’s made with a single varietal of grape, it gets more dimension than vinegars made from blends, as well as a balanced acidity. This one has a real sense of place: the rocky, minerally terroir and salty sea spray that make beautiful wines on the northeastern coast of Spain also flavor this rich, lush vinegar. Thanks to a 12-month aging process in French oak barrels, the tangy vinegar boasts notes of blackberry, vanilla and licorice on the nose, finishing with a toasted, plummy sweetness.
Martin Picard Maple Set
This exclusive set featuring creamy and sweet Maple Condensed Milk and Maple Dulce de Leche made our kitchen testers swoon. It’s made by a French-Canadian chef, Martin Picard, who operates a sugar shack and maple grove, as well as the renowned Quebec restaurant Au Pied de Cochon. Both renditions stand out thanks to a twist of nutty, homemade maple syrup that gets added to their sweet base. The result? Two complex and luxurious treats that work well in desserts, drinks and more.
TartufLanghe L'Oro in Cucina Extra Virgin Olive Oil With Black Truffle Slices
While most truffle oils just use flavorings and aromas, TartufLanghe’s Black Truffle Oil actually contains real truffles. Produced in the heart of Italy’s truffle region, Alba, Italy, this truffle oil starts with a punchy green extra virgin olive oil base that combines notes of fresh vegetables, almonds, fresh flowers and fruit. The result is a fruity and delicate flavor that pairs beautifully with small slices of freeze-dried black winter truffle—packed full of deep, earthy, musky notes. Use sparingly, as the rich heady taste of truffles, plus hints of allium, make this truffle oil a phenomenal but powerful finisher for pastas, pizza, meats, vegetables, eggs and more.
[description-break] Ingredients [/title] Ingredients: Italian extra virgin olive oil 99%, freeze-dried black winter truffle (Tuber melanosporum Vitt) 0.15% (like 0.75% of fresh truffle), natural flavor.Allergens: None[/accordion] Specifications [/title] Net Weight: 100 milliliters
Place of Origin: [/accordions-break] Drizzle over pasta dishes, risottos, cheese dishes, pizzas, beef tartare or carpaccio, mashed potatoes, eggs, or steamed fish. [/how-to-use-break]
Black Garlic Powder
Soft and mildly sweet with savory, rich undertones, black garlic is an umami-packed ingredient that sets itself apart from normal, sharp and pungent garlic. Still not found in most grocery stores, black garlic has grown in popularity in recent years as a simple way to add a complex, earthy-sweet boost to dishes. Using California-grown fresh garlic, The Black Garlic Company, based in Texas, ages their cloves for 60 days to achieve a nearly caramelized depth. The allium is then gently dried to preserve its funky flavor before being made into a powder for an easier and more approachable way to incorporate it while cooking. Rather than tackling a few sticky whole cloves, which can be hard to peel and chop, we love being able to grab it from the spice cabinet instead. Add into sauces, aiolis, eggs, noodles, rice, marinades, meats and more for umami-bomb flavor. A little goes a long way.
