McEvoy Ranch’s 2018 Jalapeno and Lemon olive oils.

If you’re already a fan of McEvoy Ranch’s olive oils like I am, you’re going to fall head over heels for its flavored olive oils.

The award-winning Marin County producer of certified organic olive oils just released its 2018 Lemon and Jalapeno olive oils. While some mass-produced flavored olive oils get extracts added to them after pressing, McEvoy’s actually crushes lemons and jalapenos together with its estate-grown olives.

I had a chance to try samples of both. Because both ingredients are crushed together, there’s a greater depth of flavor. With the Lemon, it’s not just all zing; there’s also that wonderful bitter edge and perfume from lemon rind. With the Jalapeno, there’s definitely a throaty kick of heat, about medium in intensity, but also fresh, vivid grassy and bell pepper flavors.

Jalapenos and olives are crushed at the same time to create this dazzling oil.

The Lemon would be dazzling baked into cakes or tossed into a vegetable or green salad or drizzled over grilled seafood or roasted chicken.

The Jalapeno could star in scrambled eggs, get drizzled over corn bread, spooned over grilled shrimp or as a garnish afloat in cauliflower soup or gazpacho.

The 375ml bottles of oil are $29 each.

WINNER OF THE FOOD GAL CONTEST

In last week’s Food Gal contest, I asked you to tell me the best lesson you’ve learned over the years from the work that you do.

The winner will receive a “Best Sellers Sampler” of East Coast seafood specialties from Cameron’s Seafood (valued at $99.99).

Spicy cooked blue crabs, peel-and-eat-shrimp, crab cakes and crab bisque.

Congrats to:

Caroline Kim, who wrote, “The best lesson I’ve learned over the years from working has to be to STAY HUMBLE. I started working in my parents’ dry cleaners at age 10 (typical immigrant story). I excelled in school and went to an amazing, picturesque private college and graduated already ahead of where my parents had gotten in education. However, they decided to have a career change and risk it all to move to LA from the quiet midwest and open up a clothing manufacturing business after much convincing from a family friend. They asked me to help and I moved out West with my fancy college degree only to find myself in a sweatshop situation, using my high school Spanish to communicate with our factory workers. At one point, I was turning fabric belts inside out and ironing them at 10pm and broke down. How could I be doing this “menial” labor when I had studied so much and so hard? But work is work. And for my parents to be successful, they needed to save those few pennies a belt and put me to work. In the end, my parents realized this was a toxic, horrible business where you could only make money by cheating others and they gave it all up and their life savings to move back to the Midwest. I have moved on to desk jobs since then, more “worthy” of my college degree but I remain humbled by all and any work that people do and teach my children to appreciate all those who support businesses – from the people who clean up their floors at schools to the server who hands them their fancy bobas. Stay humble because anyone who is working has a story behind them.”

For those who didn’t win, you can still get $10 off your first order at Cameron’s Seafood by clicking the link here.