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papa vince olive oil birminghamPapa Vince

Get a taste of my favorite olive oil.

By Jan Walsh


Welcome to Pure! This is a new monthly column featuring my favorite organic and non-GMO finds around the metro area. From locally made honey and hand made soaps, organic restaurant dishes, to extra virgin olive oils found locally, here I will share my favorites each month.

Our first featured food is Papa Vince Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Yet I cannot take credit for finding Papa Vince. It found me. It all began while my son Jordan Copeland was shopping at Apple Market in Pensacola, Florida. He passed a lady pouring her olive oils who asked, “Would you like a taste?” Too hurried to do so, he declined. Then as he walked past her, she added, “Are you sure? My family makes them in Sicily.” He stopped, met Vitina Feo, tasted the oils, and was amazed. And after learning this was the first market to carry the oils in the U.S., he immediately called asking me to taste the oil, saying she was sending a bottle to me. Soon afterwards, the EVOO arrived along with an email and note of gratitude.

I fell in love with the Papa Vince EVOO on first taste. Soon afterwards, I had Feo send a bottle to Andy Virciglio for consideration in Piggly Wiggly stores. He picked up the oils in their Crestline, Homewood, and River Run locations. Feo and her husband, Stefano began coming to Birmingham from Gulf Shores—where they and the business are located—for bi-weekly tastings. And since that time other stores have picked up the oils including Honey and Spice, Organic Harvest, V. Richard’s, and Western Supermarket. They are also sold in other Alabama and Florida locations and at PapaVince.com.

Papa Vince oils are not mass-produced—but are 100% Mono-cultivar, single origin, organic extra virgin olive oil. This robust EVOO is unfiltered, raw and alive with a polyphenol count of 392. Made from Noccellara del Belice, Castelvetrano Olives, since 1935 under the careful guidance of Papa Vince, it is grown, harvested, pressed and bottled in Sicily, and is certified USDA Organic. It is obtained from the first press of fresh olives—no blending, no mixing, no GMOs, no tainting of the original fruit. The oil offers notes of  basil, pepper and artichoke and boasts a lovely clean finish. Papa Vince comes in two sizes, 500 ml and 100 ml. And I don’t leave home without taking the small bottle into restaurants with me.

Not only does Papa Vince EVOO taste delicious, it offers health benefits. Two tablespoons per day of this oil—naturally filled with monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants—can lower the risk of heart disease and cancer, and provides anti-inflammatory benefits to those who suffer with diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, or asthma.

Published, B-Metro magazine, November 2014