Savantes Beyond the Blue Glass – Family, Flavour and Fun
Savantes is continuing to evolve reflecting the changes perceived in consumer preferences. The new Savantes goes beyond tasting to the profiling of olive oils which includes taste, physical and chemical attributes, and the interaction with human emotion. Extra virgin olive oil is not presented as a stand-alone product, it is part of a complex culinary and emotional experience which varies with the people using it, enhancing the well-being and happiness of families.
The new mantra is about family, flavour and fun, relegating technical tasting to an important tool in the descriptive process of profiling, not the dominant role which it now plays across the entire industry.
Future Savantes programmes will explore the flavours of olive oils with descriptions using the ingredients of a multitude of cuisines beyond the Mediterranean diet which is central to current promotion. Comparisons will be made with competing vegetable and seed oils used in cooking in many countries where olive oil has barely penetrated the market. Ways of fashioning products and promotions which incrementally move cooks to using more olive oil in their daily meals will be explored.
African Olive - Simon Field's new book.
The African (Olea Africana) and European (Olea Europaea) olive trees are as horticulturally divergent as the black and white cultures in South Africa. Grafted, the two varieties form a vigorous and productive combination, a metaphor for the progress of black and white cultures in South Africa in rural and semi-urban environments.
The narrative follows the stories of those from Europe who introduced olive oil production to the Western Cape, and the black people who used the African olive for medicinal and ceremonial purposes.
Fruity, a Little Bitter and Spicy By Simon Field
Simon Field is the founder of International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes and an olive producer and trader. He has a Masters degree from Cambridge University and is a former Executive Director of The Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Editor of the journal Agricultural Science. He has also held senior elected positions in farmer organisations. His publications include handbooks on every aspect of olive production, processing and marketing.
Fruity, a Little Bitter and Spicy provides a practical Australian producer’s view of the establishment of an olive enterprise and entry into the global market. Moving from the early days of planting trees, the production of olive oil and involvement in international trade and events, the reader acquires an expansive knowledge of the global industry.
International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes restarts in Melbourne with new method for tasting olive oil.
Savantes Savourgram © to be Introduced at Savantes Melbourne, March 2023
The internationally acclaimed International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes Programme will restart in Melbourne with yet another innovation.
With programmes held prepandemic in 11 countries Savantes has introduced the Savantes Skills Test recognising individual tasters, the national Team Tasting Championships in France, Spain and Greece, and the inaugural World Team Tasting Championship held in Spain in 2019.
Now Savantes has developed a new creative multi-dimensional method of tasting and recording extra virgin olive oils.
In the continuing development of the Savantes tasting philosophy we have developed the concept of ‘The Palette of Flavours’ with colours representing the positive characteristics of fruitiness (blue), bitterness (green) and spiciness (red).
To represent the progression of flavours along the palate, a graph has been devised with the vertical axis representing intensity and the horizontal axis representing time in one second intervals.