Halutza Olive Oil

[boaziko]

Near kibbutz Revivim in the Negev desert, in the south of Israel, there is a slightly salted subterranean reservoir. This is thesource of the water for Halutza's olive trees . For the last 2 years many Israelis, some top chefs, and myself are using it . There are some verities I prefer "Suri", "Barnea", and just got my first shipment of "Pikual".

I can highly recommend it. I was told that it can be found in Zabar's, Balduchi's and Dean & Deluca. It will be shortly presented in Israfood, food expo in LA.

Haym Cohen of the late Keren restaurant in Tel Aviv is about to open his NYC place, Taboon, (kind of Middle Eastern), 52 St. & 10th Av. where he will use Halutza Olive Oil. The opening is expected every day.

http://www.halutza.co.il/english/index.html

Please report back.

Boaziko

[marlena spieler]

Todah, Rabah,

I am soooo interested in Israeli olive oil and promoting it. when i lived in the galilee a million years ago we had wonderful olive trees and made beautiful oil. every so often i come upon excellent israeli olive oil but have a hard time finding it in england or usa.

as a food writer and broadcaster, i could like to at some point, organize a press trip to israel, to introduce food writers from abroad to the excellence of so many israeli products and ideas: the olive oil and fabulous cheeses, such as feta (which is sold and adored in california). if you know of anyone who can help out, let me know. otherwise, i'll just keep my eyes open and one of these days it will happen.

i'll definately check out Taboon in new york, as i go through there every couple of months. could you email me and let me know when they DO open?

do you know murray's felafel on 1st and about 16th? i think he makes super zchug, and his felafel is very good too, and his soup.

[Pan]

Thanks for the recommendation, Marlena.

What's zchug?

[boaziko]

zchug is the Yemenite equivelent to Harisa, hot condiment usually spread on various "Pita" sandwitches along with Falafel, Hummus,Sabich etc.

[Pan]

Yes, I'm familiar with Harisa, by that name. Thanks, boaziko.

[nessa]

Ooops. At first read, I thought it said Hazelnut olive oil!

So I came to investigate. Now I want to find this in my area to try it.

Anyone know of any distributors in Dallas?

[bloviatrix]

Yes, I'm familiar with Harisa, by that name. Thanks, boaziko.

Pan, you can find zhug at some of the kosher stores. I think Fairway also carries it.

[VivreManger]

Zhug, in contrast to all the harisa I have tried, can be green as well as red. The green color and distinctive taste comes from the addition of coriander to the pepper, garlic, oil mixture. I don't have any red shug -- pronounced s-hug -- handy, but I think that has coriander as well, but not as much. One supplier is Sabra Salads: www.sabrasalads.com

I often see their products in kosher markets so it should be widely available in NYC.

I often add it to hummus and as a condiment with falafel.