Olive oil is a healthy choice, at least as far as fats are concerned, according to the Mayo Clinic.

"Olive oil contains monounsaturated fat, a healthier type of fat that can lower your risk of heart disease by reducing the total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol levels in your blood," says Mayo Clinic nutritionist, Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), consuming about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil a day may reduce your risk of heart disease. "You can get the most benefit by substituting olive oil for saturated fats rather than just adding more olive oil to your diet," says Zeratsky.

All types of olive oil contain monounsaturated fat. Extra-virgin or virgin olive oils are the least processed forms, so they're the most heart healthy. Those types contain the highest levels of polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant that also can promote heart health, she adds.

Travelers with a sense of adventure and an appreciation for wining and dining will want to check out two upcoming trips to Sicily in the fall arranged by Cynthia Nicholson of The Farmhouse Table. Nicholson, a former food editor at Country Living and Real Simple magazines, has a flair for seeking out the culinary and cultural gems that only insiders know about. While the first trip is more food oriented and the second focused on wine, the two itineraries have a healthy dose of both and feature a cooking class, along with many opportunities to absorb unique Sicilian culture.

The culinary trip from Sept. 26 - Oct. 3 includes a stay at Buseto Palizzolo (above) near Palermo which produces its own olive oil, honey, wine, and organic fruits and vegetables, and a visit to an artisanal bakery where the ovens are fired with almond husks rather than wood. The second trip presented in conjunction with Swirl Wines runs Oct. 11 - 22 and includes a day trip to Solicchiata for a tasting and discussion with winemaker Frank Cornelissen. Full details on both itineraries can be found here and and you can sign up for The Farmhouse Table's mailing list here.

Need a fabulous Valentine candy for the vegan in your life? CocoaVino makes hazelnut and sea salt bonbons that are made from a dark chocolate ganache blended with extra virgin olive oil, roasted hazelnut and flavored with with hazelnut liqueur and Mediterranean sea salt. CocoaVino makes an entire line of artisanal chocolates and confections including drunken figs, a decadent treat that is made of an organic fig, stuffed with chocolate and port-style wine and dipped in dark chocolate.All the chocolate they use is both organic and fair trade certified. A box of 12 olive oil bonbons sells for $35.

A bottle of olive oil for a holiday gift? These days, olive oil can be as welcome a gift as a special bottle of wine. Especially when the oil is from a specialty estate like Moulin Fortuné Arizzi in Provence, France. Their award-winning extra virgin olive oil is produced on the plantation and processed in their mill. The taste is fresh and sweet with notes of almond and artichoke. The oil sells for $45 and is just one of the tempting olive oils from Tuscany, Sicily and other locales around the world offered by O&CO, the company of Olivier Baussan, the founder of L'Occitane.

Here's a great chance to both do something great for the environment and get something fun to show for it: adopt yourself an olive tree! Nudo, an olive grove in Italy, is offering people the chance to support small scale artisanal farming (instead of the large mechanized operations that damage the earth) by adopting a specific olive tree. And when you adopt an olive tree in the grove for one year not only do you get the satisfaction from the environmental effort, but you also get all the produce from your tree. You'll get a Spring Package with the olive oil from your tree, and then an Autumn Package of more olive oil and some handmade olive oil soap. $130/year.



via DailyCandy

When I lived in a small town outside of Boston I used to go to an small Greek grocer where I would buy thick green bars of olive oil soap., The smell of the soap, richly herbal, made showering a treat. The French Soaps website offers a chance to buy not just olive oil soaps from Greece but from Turkey, Spain, Lebanon and France. A set of six soaps sells for $52.65. As the name of the website suggests, they also specialize in French soaps, candles and fragrance.

Lavish, adventurous and wrapped up with a big purple bow, the Olive Oil and Italiano Gift Box from Vosges Chocolate is the perfect gift for a mom who is a little bit of a foodie. Instead of the usual box of chocolates, the Vosages gift has a 750-ml bottle of Lucini Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a box of nine unique truffles in five different flavors. They include:

Rooster- Italian taleggio cheese, organic walnuts and Tahitian vanilla beans with bittersweet dark chocolate

Olio d'oliva- extra virgin olive oil and white chocolate with dried Kalamata olives

Balsamico- 10 year old balsamic vinegar and dark chocolate with roasted Sicilian hazelnuts

Sale del Mare- Sicilian sea salt caramel and milk chocolate with pine nuts

Finnochio- Wild Tuscan fennel pollen with dark chocolate and anise

The olio d'olive truffle is made with the same type of olive oil included with the gift. Mom is certain to remember the unusual and delicious flavor combinations in the truffles. Price: $56.

Napa Community College isn't the only California college working on commercial products. Fresno State not only operates a commercial winery, now they are offering student-produced Estate Reserve Olive Oil. The oils is part of the university's “olives-for-oil” project and is priced at $10.95 for a 500 ml vintage bottle. The Estate Reserve is a blend of Arbequina, Arbosana and Koroneiki oils and proceeds from olive oil sales will benefit Fresno State's teaching and research program in agriculture. The olives were grown in super high-density plantings and then harvested and processed by the California Olive Ranch.

An article about the booming olive oil market in California led me to discover Round Pond, a winery that has also entered the olive oil market. Round Pond has a 12-acre olive orchard and they have their own mills, a granite mill which is meant to bring out the mellow, buttery flavor of Spanish-style and a hammer mill that uses sharp blades to mince olives for the more pungent Italian-style oils. Round Pond also makes oils that infused with blood oranges and Meyer lemons. These intense, delicious artisan oils sell out each year so if you want to get in on the 2006 vintage you probably need to get on their mailing list. A bottle sells for $22.