Our blend

Urrah extra virgin olive oil is a blend of the oil obtained from three local varieties of olives. The blend is used in similar proportions by all the farmers of the western Sicily, as the three varieties complement each other to create a distinctive, rounded, peppery flavour.

The predominant variety (<70%) is the prestigious Nocellara del Belice.

Nocellara is well known among experts for its versatility, as the olives are both good for the table, or martini cocktails, and to make a deliciously sweet oil.

Many of our neighbours have consistently won prizes with monocultivar oils at the prestigous New York International Olive Oil Competition. (For the list of winner in the Nocellara del Belice cultivar click here).

Biancolilla is one of the most ancient cultivar found in western Sicily; its colour is light green with yellow highlights and the oil is fruity, slightly pungent and carries sometimes aromas of cut grass, artichoke, almonds or tomatoes. Among the three varieties this is the lighter in taste and its properties fade quicker than the other two.

Finally the Cerasuola, another ancient cultivar of the western region of Sicily, with its dark green colour, with a bitter but pleasant peppery aftertaste. Cerasuola features a substantial body that gives structure and durability to our delicious EVO oil.

A few facts about extra virgin olive oil in your diet

Last year I read my first book about nutrition and I was surprised to find it very readable and entertaining. The author of the book The diet myth, Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London and Director of the Twins UK Registry, popularises the latest scientific thinking on how the microbes in the gut affect (more than previously thought)

the general health of the body. The book is really entertaining as Spector recounts how he doesn't shy away from participating in a lot of experiments, from colonscopies (ouch!), to fasting and "fromage" experiments.

But the most interesting part of the book for me was chapter 5 on unsaturated fats, here is a little excerpt from this chapter:


[...] Until recently the benefits of polyphenols in olive oil were thought to come mainly from its antioxidant properties, whereby they mop up any excess cell-damaging chemicals and have a calming anti-inflammatory effect. Other studies show that olive oil can somehow switch off the genes (possibly by epigenetics) responsible for much of the inflammation in the blood vessels that leads to heart disease. But research suggest a much greater role of our microbes. Over 80% of the fatty acids and nutrients from olive oil reaches the colon before full digestion and comes into contact with our microbes. Here the microbes feed on the rich mix of fatty acids and polyphonols and break them down into smaller by-products, and at this point several interesting thing happen.
Some of the compounds produced act as antioxidants, then use the polyphenols as fuel to produce a range of even smaller bits of fat - short-chain fatty acids. These compounds are more interesting than their name suggests, signalling to the body to lower harmful lipid levels and telling the immune system what to do next. Polyphenols actively encourage some microbes to flourish, such as lactobacilli that mop up and bind fat/lipid particles and clear them from the blood. They also prevent unwanted microbes from colonising our guts. this reduces the incidence of infection from bugs like E.coli that can cause diarrhoea, H.pylori that can cause stomach ulcers, and other bugs that cause pneumonia and tooth decay. event the build-up of unhealthy atheromatos plaque in our arteries is due in part to abnormal and mysterious microbial activity in the damage blood vessel - and polyphenols are likely to help reduce this too. [...]

The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat by Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London and Director of the TwinsUK Registry.

Here is why we call it URRAH

There is an island far away, sometimes it is too far away...


...Where the sun shines 340 days a year...


...If you close your eyes you can't escape the blue of the sky and the sea...


...And the land is so bountiful, you drop a seed and the best produce crop up, while the weeds wilt - they feel ashamed of their meanness...


There is where Urrah comes from: a contrada (a division of a municipality) just west of the town of Menfi. It is a magnificent rural strip that covers about 3km from the sea inwards, and has the funny guttural name of Gurra, contrada di Gurra.

No one would really know this, if the local wine cooperative Settesoli hadn't called the locally produced Sauvignon Blanc Urra di mare. And, oh man, it's an excellent wine...


Now, I am not sure if we were inspired to call our oil Urrah under the influence of Urra, but our name is nonetheless an homage to this wine and of course to the land, the gurra that produces it.

Urrah! It's nearly Christmas!

This year's new batch of Urrah will be arriving Thursday 8th December, give Urrah organic olive oil for Christmas!

Dear loyal costumers, this year's new organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is arriving this week and we are impatient to taste the new batch which has been hailed as the best since we started production.

We will be holding an open tasting session at ours on Saturday, the 10th December between 10.30am and 5.30pm. For the address drop me an email: ferraline@gmail.com

Hope to see you then!

New Year, New Organic Oil

Happy New Year to everyone, may 2016 bring you joy, health and love, but most of all, EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL!

The new batch of 2015 Urrah oil has arrived yesterday, slightly later than usual, just in time for New Year wishes.

With its bright green colour, a bouquet of cut grass and artichoke and a peppery after taste Urrah is extremely versatile and can be used on all your favorite dishes (grilled, steamed and raw foods), but not for deep/stir frying.

2015 has been a bumper year for olive oil. The harvest started around mid October, ensuring protection against the threat of the oil fly. The acidity levels were at the lowest recorded (less than 0,2%) making our olive oil super extra virgin!

This January the farm has achieved the organic certification after two years of checks and hard work. Urrah oil is farmed following strict European standards: our olives are harvested manually and cold milled within 15 hours from harvest to ensure the taste is preserved intact.

Although we have obtained certification of organic farming our prices haven't changed this year. So, you can enjoy Urrah in tins of 1L for the price of £12 and 3L for the price of £33.
Payments on collection or delivery only.

We hope you enjoy the full flavour that Urrah brings to your table!

How to order

Please fill in this contact form  to order Urrah.

Urrah! We did it again...

We are going to have a new batch of our deliciously peppery Sicilian extra virgin olive oil again available to buy -hopefully - just in time for Christmas! 

Our oil 

Our olives are harvested by hand and cold pressed within hours from harvest to ensure best tasting results.
The oil is a mix of of two varieties of olives, Nocellara del Belice and Biancolilla.
Nocellara del Belice oil delivers a peppery taste with accents of cut grass, while Biancolilla is fruity and sweeter with hints of almond. The mix of this two variety results in a extra virgin oil of olive that is excellent on grilled or steamed dishes, soups and salads.
The arrival of the shipment should be at the beginning of December, still on time for Christmas presents.

UPDATE: The oil has just arrived! After a long, long, long wait the oil has arrived this morning. It must have had a lot of fun on the way as quite a few cans have received a real bashing!

News from the groves

The harvest has been disastrous and the price of the oil has sky rocketed. According to a report on Radio 4 You and Yours (find it here from minute 18.43 to minute 24.58).
Our benchmark competitor Stroud Green Olive Oil has had to cancel this year delivery as the crop was badly affected by adverse weather throughout the year. In Sicily a bad drought has halved the production of olive oil but the lesson learnt from last year our early harvest has staved off pests.
If you can still find cheap oil around it's either last years or is an oil mixed up with a lesser quality product. Our oil speaks for itself.

The pricing

Due to an all-Mediterranean  disastrous crop this year we had to adjust the price of our olive oil to the market rate. This year our pricing is:

1L= £12
3L=£33
5L=£50

Payments on collection or delivery only.

Ordering

This year we have set up an online ordering form that will help us keep track of quantity you can find here.
To make things easier  we can also have it delivered anywhere with parcel2go. Prices vary as Parcel to go is a quote aggregator of curriers. Bear in mind that the cheapest deliveries are from collect point to collect point.

Your feed-back

We have listened to your feedback from last year about tins not being practical on the table and we now reccomend buying an oil pourer  like the one below. A little funnel will make all your decanting easier and spill free.

I have never used this company, if someone buys from them let me know. Please note that we don't recommend to add the twig of rosemary to your bottle as our oil does not need any flavour booster added to.

NOW SIT BACK AND ENJOY!!

Urrah is here!

Urrah! The oil has arrived and is safely stored in the house. 

(Few boxes stored under my desk, not as disruptive as the box of books that has been sitting in my living room for the past 2 weeks waiting to be taken to the charity shop). 

I am having last minute conundrums on how to package it as I know some people want to give it as a Christmas present and I am not happy with this year's tins. (Last year's on the left this year on the right.) 

So, I am waiting for the labels to arrive by the end of the week and we should be ready to go by the beginning of next week.

Thank you for your patience!