Fused Olive Oil may be the best thing you've never heard of, but we're about to change that!

Fused olive oils have an interesting history.  In the Abruzzo region of Italy, farmers would crush ripe lemons or oranges in with the olives in their mill to produce a very special olive oil that had a beautifully balanced citrus flavor, thus inventing what is now known as the fused process.

Only today, the fused process is no longer restricted to citrus fruits.  Citrus still creates a wonderful fused oil, but so do peppers and herbs!

With an infused olive oil, oil extracts are mixed with olive oil (preferably extra virgin!).  It is relatively easy to experiment with proportions until the right mixture is obtained.  Not so with fused oils.

Because every fused oil is made by crushing the olives along with the produce, a small test batch isn't really feasible.  In addition, the ratio of olives to produce will be different for different fused oils, so the only way to get it right for a specific type of produce is trial and error over the course of years, even decades!

The trial and error involved in producing a quality fused means it is expensive, time consuming, and difficult to produce.  This, of course, means that it is rare and somewhat expensive.

But oh is it worth it!

The flavor that a quality fused gives is absolutely fantastic and really can't be duplicated.  Blood Orange or Lemon fused oils can be used in confectionery applications, on grilled vegetables and light meats, even over ice cream!  Pepper-based fused oils can take a salsa or intentionally spicy dish to the next level.  And, you haven't lived until you've drizzled Rosemary fused oil over roasted potatoes!

All of the Fused Olive Oils here at The Olive Basket are the product of decades of experience and fine-tuning and are produced by our supplier's mill in Tunisia, where they are careful to produce within hours of harvest, for both the olives and the produce.  The result is a collection of absolutely amazing tasting oils that we hope you will enjoy!