Fresh cherry tomatoes from the garden...

[TheMightyFavog]

Fresh basil from the garden, some toast rubbed with garlic, coat with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, tomatoes, and basil, sprinkle generously with Parmigaino Reggiano.

Heaven.

There will be some things that I will miss while at college.

sigh.. Why does extra virgin olive oil and Parmigaino Reggiano have to be so expensive?

[Elidor]

1. Sounds just like my garden

I'm addicted to cherry tomatoes and fresh homemade pesto. Yummy. :9

[HereSince1628]

2. dice cilantro, onion, garlic, jalepeno, tomatoes, white onion, cucumber

and mix with a bit of olive oil and vinegar (salt and pepper to taste...) Dip into it with blue corn chips! Garden salsa!

Going away to college or living in a place without prickly pear can effect your salsa recipe! Nonetheless cucumber is cool.

[tridim]

3. Why does extra virgin olive oil have to be so expensive?

Because it's "EXTRA virgin".. A buzzword and "gourmet" term that fools the consumer into happily paying the extra few bucks. I'm not saying it's not good stuff, but it's expensive only because of the name. I only buy olive oil when it's on sale.

All cheese is expensive, so I'll give parm-reg a break.

That said, thanks for the tip. My sweet cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. I think I need to make some bread right now.

[Hoping4Change]

4. Olive oil is extremely healthy and well worth the cost.

All olive oils are graded in accordance with the degree of acidity they contain.

The best are cold-pressed, a chemical-free process that involves only pressure, which produces a natural level of low acidity.


Extra virgin olive oil, the cold-pressed result of the first pressing of the olives, is only 1 percent acid. It's considered the finest and fruitiest of the olive oils and is therefore also the most expensive.


After extra virgin, olive oils are classified in order of ascending acidity. Virgin olive oil is also a first-press oil, with a slightly higher level of acidity of between 1 and 3 percent.

Products labeled simply olive oil (once called pure olive oil) contain a combination of refined olive oil and virgin or extra virgin oil.

The International Olive Oil Institute recommends using pure olive oil for frying, since the flavor of extra virgin olive oil tends to break down at frying temperatures, making the added expense a waste.


http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/encyclopedia/termdetail/0,7770,4171,00.html


"Extra virgin olive oil is one of the few oils that can be eaten without chemical processing. (Nearly every other vegetable oil has not been detoxified and refined with steam and solvents). Fresh pressed olive oil can be eaten immediately and retains the natural flavors, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other healthy products of the ripe olive fruit."

http://www.oliveoilsource.com/oliveoildr.htm

[TheMightyFavog]

5. Well, Stevens Point' supposed to have a good farmer's market...

So I might be able to pick up some good tomatoes

[Yogi]

6. My wife is growing cherry tomatoes...

this summer and the plant is full, now were just waiting for them to ripen. Aha, the joys of summer.:)