'Olive oil in our home is always on the table'
When I was growing up, I never saw an actual olive tree. I grew up in New York City, and to me, the iconic “olive branch” peace offering, or some decorative Italian or Greek platter, was the closest thing I knew of the olive tree. Olive oil was used in my home for some cooking. It was a bland, cheap type that was purchased to make “Italian cuisine” on special occasions. It tasted like nothing special, but given that my mom was a hippy and cooked healthy food for us, I knew that olive oil was important.
When I left home, I wanted to cook and entertain. I would go to the local Italian grocery and purchase imported olive oil. It cost me a pretty penny, and I began to understand how delicious, pure extra virgin olive oil tasted—I was hooked. There began my fascination with all things Italian. I became obsessed with Italian Fashion & directors (Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti etc.) I took several trips to Italy for work, mostly in Italian cities, never to Tuscany. I was in love with Italy, and brought home jugs of olive oil, salumi, fashion, and huge chunks of Parmigano Reggiano.
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One summer, while on holiday, I met Gabriele Corcos at a friend’s home in Firenze. He brought me up the hills to his Tuscan Estate in Fiesole. I’ll never forget when he took me to his grandmother’s basement to collect olive oil for the home. There were 400-year-old huge Terra cotta vases, used to store the season’s oil. They were aged with stains of oil drippings, discolored in a way that produced colors that were staggeringly beautiful, like a painting.
Gabriele produced a ladle and let me sip the oil. It was orgasmic—so green and spicy, like nothing I had ever tasted. The fields at sunset were misty, and the wild boars (which I had never seen) would roam in the distance. The olive orchard of 20,000 trees glistened, and the branches looked like they were coated in silver. It took my breath away.
I married Gabriele and became a Tuscan farmer’s wife. I became obsessed with the Roman and Etruscan history. I would pretend I was a Renaissance lady, and I studied how olive oil was used for medicine and for beauty. I rubbed olive oil on my breasts and stomach during pregnancy and ended up with no stretch marks, which run in my family. I use olive oil to style my hair, and I’ve even tried “oil pulling,” which involves swishing olive oil around in your mouth.
Olive oil in our home is always on the table. We cook with a less expensive one and use extra virgin to dress all food. Our children help us during harvest, to collect the olives, which is a family tradition with neighbors and friends. It’s a huge celebration: We pick all day and bring wine, homemade jams, fresh bread and cheese, to the fields and make a picnic during harvest time. We use the pits to generate electricity, and also to make body scrubs. Nothing is wasted.
No matter where I am, a good Italian olive oil takes me on a vacation and nurtures my soul. It is my favorite ingredient, and something I cannot live without. I believe it makes me a healthier, better being.
Debi Mazar is an actress, and a host, with her husband Gabriele Corcos, of the Cooking Channel series Extra Virgin.