“O Olive Oil reached out to me and asked me to try three of their California Balsamic vinegars–O California Balsamic, O California White Balsamic, and O California Port Balsamic–that won the Gold last summer at the Fancy Food Show in NYC. I am familiar with the company, and have used several of their olive oils & vinegars, so I was ready and willing to give them a taste test. They are absolutely wonderful! Each has it’s own distinctive flavor so I am enjoying using all of them as a base for my salad dressings and marinades. It’s so exciting to find a new flavor experience…and this was three!” Chef Lea

Even more important, we found out that there is an increasing concern over lead found in some European vinegars. If you are in California, every company must give notice on a label if a vinegar contains lead…not sure about other parts of the country, so be safe and use a California Balsamic from O Olive Oil.  They are oak-aged over time and under rigorous supervision.  They hand-craft them one batch at a time in order to certify quality. Each of their vinegars tests out at levels more than 30 times lower than the safety levels established by California codes (wow, good for them!).

Give these award-winners your own taste test, and be confident that they’ve already exceeded all their safety tests!  Click on each photo for details, pairings and recipes.

O California Balsamic Vinegar

O California White Balsamic Vinegar

O California Port Balsamic Vinegar

Real food.  Honest images…Honestly.

Chef Lea McIntosh creates the recipes in our magazine, but what you probably don’t know is that she also does the food styling.  For us, it’s important to show the real food without using any fancy tricks or slight of hand.  Of course, we want them to look enticing, so Lea prepares beautiful presentations for the camera…and we look to great photographers to capture every last bit of delicious!

Here Lea is in the San Francisco Christopher Peacock Showroom kitchen styling a small bowl of her Creamy Chevre Crab Dip (page 28 in the Winter 2010 issue).

She adds a piece of fresh crab on top so you can visually tell that the recipe includes crab meat.  Notice the small cups of Brandied Tomato Cream Soup that were styled for the same issue (Page 16 Winter 2010).

The final touch?  Two snips of fresh chives placed on top in a graceful-X, for a pop of green!  The layering of wooden plates underneath complement the organic bowl’s shape.

For more on today’s kind of  food styling for magazines…read this great post on mattbites.com

Images by Michael Soo, Soo Photography