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<p style="text-align: justify;">Hands down what I miss the most in the kitchen from Spain is easy access to great Spanish olive oil.  Castillo de Canena has been one of my favorites since I first tried it in 2009 in a Ronda olive oil tasting.  It&#39;s satisfying to see it getting so much recognition...last year Tom Mueller, author of Extra Virginity, mentioned it as one of his favorites!  I&#39;m happy to see it is available here in the US and horrified at the price!  I haven&#39;t yet gotten desperate enough to buy the Picual Reserva Familiar at 32$, when it is 10€ in Spain!  Aaaaaack! This is why my suitcase is always full of olive oil when I come back....wine markups are much less. Read on for more details on this beautiful line of olive oils....</p>

<!--more-->&gt;<span style="text-align: justify; ">Castillo de Canena is a small family operation based in Jaen, Andalucia, that has been growing steadily as it gets more recognition.  he two basic oils are the reservation familiar series...one from the Picual olive, the other from the Arbequina.  The Picual is one of the most common olive cultivars in Spain and can make some pretty ordinary stuff, but in the right hands, it makes a lovely oil, with herbal, almond and artichoke notes.  The Arbequina olive is most famous in Catalonia, but here it offers a lovely pungent oil, with citric and tomato leaf notes.</span><p style="text-align: justify;">These "basic" oils are spectacular and are great for salads, pastas, and as finishing oils...anywhere where the oil is the star.  Keep heating to a minimum here please.  I go through buckets of this when I&#39;m back in Madrid, savoring every drop! </p>

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<p style="text-align: justify;"> Castillo de Canena also makes a "first day of harvest" line, capturing the essence every year of the new harvest.  They choose a different celebrity every year to design the image of the product, though the bottle is usually red.  This year the star is none other than Alejandro Sanz....here you can find his explanation of the artwork he created for the label (in Spanish.)  Both a Picual and Arbequina bottling of this line are made.   These special bottles are about 18€ in Spain and about 50$ here!  Aaaaack!</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Strange the things you miss the most!  Olive oil....I will never take you for granted again!</p>

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