The growing attention from consumers to quality agrifood products is increasingly pushing them to seek out and select authentic Italian products, produced in ways that respect the environment and the soil. Notable among these is organic extra virgin olive oil, highly nutritional and excellent for the body thanks to its surprising properties and benefits.
VAL PARADISO organic extra virgin olive oil comes from the area between Naro and Camastra. Let’s find out more about this company. A Sicilian region known for its striking Baroque style and rich gastronomic heritage. We interview the producer, who tells us how this area’s “yellow gold” comes into being
INTERVIEW with the producer
We produce an extra virgin olive oil made from the first cold pressing, carried out in our company’s oil mill and not externally. The oil cultivar from the full extent of our olive groves, around (X ha) of groves, is a mix of (types of olives), universally admired for their strong, balanced and fragrant taste… (add notes on the oil if needed). So says Massimo Carlino, who owns Val Paradiso together with his siblings: (names of them all)
The family business is located in a part of Sicily dedicated to producing oil and has a history spanning over a century. How did you get into the fascinating world of extra virgin olive oil?
Our company started business when my father Desiderio Carlino started investing in land and olive trees. The philosophy behind the brand was to create the best EVO oil from the best selection of olives.
In (year), (siblings’ names) and I decided to take over the Val Paradiso brand, keeping the philosophy and values behind it intact, and wanting to provide continuity to the family tradition of growing olive trees and making oil that in reality dates back to the end of (YEAR).
The brand has kept the same name but undergone graphic changes. We wanted to stylise the logo’s features and colours, modernising it in line with current market trends.
We felt the call of Sicily, with the aim of creating a product that represented us and lived up to our expectations, a product that reconciled “the good and the beautiful at the table”.
The decision to enter the world of oil came naturally to the Carlino brothers. The olive groves, located in the present-day municipality of Camastra, which at the time extended over (X ha), are extraordinarily well-suited to growing olives. In fact, the name of the estate derives from the district of “Val Paradiso”, which suggests this land’s almost otherworldly landscape, especially when the sun rises and falls on the branches of the trees which
INTERVIEW with the producer
What led you to dedicate the land to cultivating organic olives?
Many aspects have pushed us towards organic cultivation, including preserving the land and people’s health. Add MC.
The brand has kept the same name but undergone graphic changes. We wanted to stylise the logo’s features and colours, modernising it in line with current market trends.
What led you to dedicate the land to cultivating organic olives?
Many aspects have pushed us towards organic cultivation, including preserving the land and people’s health. Add MC.
Processing organic olives in an oil mill must be done with great care. How important is professional staff training for Val Paradiso to correctly apply the provisions of the Regulations?
Our staff are prepared and trained to pay the utmost attention to handling and processing olives. The Directive is also very specific about work and production processes. Regardless of all the rules, we are strongly convinced that a company should work according to its own criteria and traditions, which must naturally reflect the legal regulations: not out of obligation, but simply because it is natural to work with Nature.
Working with Nature is the main way our company operates.
Val Paradiso has presented some videos – and more are on the way – to show those observing us exactly this respect for the environment, on product quality, without neglecting local marketing, events, initiatives like X in Japan last year, where the company took part and received major awards—-
For VP, everything is a sign of transparency, from product communication to sociable interaction with the public and tastings, and last but not least safeguarding the land and the future Val Paradiso Academy, newly designed and soon opening to the public.
Other VP products:
- Dried aromatic herbs
- FLAVOURED oil
- Flavoured line
Adding flavours to oil is an appetising idea, but it is also useful to have aromas at home when we don’t have fresh herbs – and above all to delight guests by bringing the bottle straight to the table. A quick and easy idea that wastes nothing: in fact, after sitting a while, even the extra virgin olive oil used to preserve the aromas will become an “aromatic” ingredient to create various special combinations.
