Contacting our friends at Yo, Verde was a challenge. Mobile phones with no coverage, missed or cut calls… The joke was on a plate: we knew they were in the middle of the harvest and that the family's olive groves, Finca Pichilín, are located in the beautiful setting of the hills of Úbeda.
However, although siblings Araceli and José Ramón Blanco have their minds set on how their harvest is going in this beautiful countryside setting, they know very well what they are talking about when they refer to Yo, Verde , the project with which they are expanding a family olive-growing tradition that goes back four generations.
Me, Green : an oil with personality
The first thing that stands out in Yo, Verde is its bright green colour, due to the early harvest, which gives it an intense fruitiness, with notes of freshly cut grass, fig and banana peel, with green almonds standing out. It is a voluminous oil, very balanced, with a medium spiciness and bitterness, which leaves a harmonious sensation of freshness with a long persistence. Although it is also true that the tasting changes often because nature is sovereign. We are told that previous harvests of Yo, Verde had a marked tomato flavour, but the current one could almost seem like an Arbequina olive!
It is undoubtedly a bold and balanced oil, with a medium spiciness and bitterness, which leaves a sensation of freshness of great persistence, coming from the picual variety and the still green fruit.
Its aim is to create a healthy product, presenting it as a lifestyle option. Hence its name, Yo, Verde . In fact, it is the only olive oil sold in pharmacies for its nutritional and antioxidant qualities.
The meticulousness in the production of Yo, Verde
As we write this, the oil from Yo, Verde is being decanted. It was harvested 8 days ago and we are told that it was a night harvest to avoid the high temperatures that still occur in this early harvest season. But this is just one of the many aspects of an extraction and packaging process in which every detail is measured and taken care of.
In a way, this meticulous and almost scientific procedure seems to have a direct relationship with the fact that the oil is distributed in pharmacies.
No, Yo, Verde is not a medicine. Araceli intervenes. But my brother José Ramón is a pharmacist.
This explains the range of olive oil resources used to protect the qualities of Yo, Verde , which range from the traditional (such as reducing the time between harvesting, milling and decanting) to the innovative, such as rendering the oil inert with nitrogen, and all types of analysis on the benefits of Yo, Verde , such as polyphenol measurements.
An extra virgin olive oil focused on health
Yo, Verde , in addition to having a genuine flavor and a bold design, stands out for its antioxidant benefits thanks to its contribution of polyphenols, which contribute to the reduction of feared free radicals.
These characteristics derive from the early harvest but also from the particularities of the Picual variety, from which Yo, Verde is made. The oil from this type of olive is the most resistant to oxidation and the one that maintains its flavour and properties for the longest time. Being a 100% Picual EVOO, Yo, Verde and its properties and oleic acid levels are much more stable.
A new way to spread olive oil culture
After four generations of working in the olive sector with the local cooperative, with the launch of Yo, Verde in 2015, the Blanco family was looking for a higher quality oil that was even richer on an organoleptic level. They opted for cold extraction and early harvesting by renting an oil mill.
Araceli and José Ramón Blanco are part of this group that plans to modernise the sector from a much more scientific perspective, taking into account all kinds of analysis to manage their farm. They measure the quality of the packaged product but also closely monitor the soil and the trees to measure all kinds of parameters that affect the quality of the fruit and the oil.
Speaking with them, we agreed on the need to continue spreading the culture of olive oil. At Yo, Verde they have opted to go beyond the usual framework of extra virgin olive oil, thinking of a different bottle design and an innovative distribution, to bring Premium oil to other sectors and seeking to surprise those who are used to classic brands. But above all, they have opted to prioritize quality over quantity and offer an extra virgin olive oil that will surely surprise you.
