“If you’ve ever bought like a $5.99 bottle of olive oil in a plastic bottle, you bought probably something that wasn’t extra virgin,” he says. In fact, he says, the study found that in a blind tasting, most Americans preferred the rancid olive oil over the fresh olive oil, because that’s what they’re used to. Additionally, many olive oils that are sold are already rancid and have oxidized long before their expiration date, Bradley explains. Davis study found that many brands of extra virgin olive oil don’t meet international extra virgin olive oil standards. Now, Bradley puts his teaching skills to use educating community members about the merits of fresh olive oil – which can be surprisingly hard to come by.Īn often-cited U.C. Opinion: Unsafe Skittles? California should ban toxic chemicals in candy The brand has since expanded to locations in Lafayette, San Anselmo, the Castro Valley Marketplace and most recently Danville. He began accompanying his dad to farms around the world to meet with olive oil producers.Ībout a year later, he and his sister, Claire, joined forces to co-manage the family’s first olive oil shop, Amphora Nueva, in Berkeley. The olive oil demo all those years ago inspired Bradley to learn more. (Photo courtesy Nate Bradley/Amphora Nueva) The family behind Amphora Nueva has been in the olive oil importing business for nearly 100 years. You may not have heard of it, because the company primarily does private label work for about 900 independent olive oil stores across the U.S., Bradley says. The family moved the business to Oakland in the 1930s, and it remains the oldest continuously-owned olive oil company in the U.S. Veronica Foods is a century-old, family-run olive oil importing business that dates back to 1924, when Bradley’s great-grandfather, Salvatore Esposito, first opened its doors in New York City. He reluctantly said yes, but confesses, “I had no idea what I was doing.” Sixteen years ago, Nate Bradley was working as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Castro Valley and preparing for a career in teaching, when his dad asked him to help out with the family olive oil company by hosting a demo at a local grocery store one day.

Golden bottle contest fresh farms