A Cerignola olive mill that has been cold-pressing oil for fifty years...

In Cerignola, in the province of Foggia, there is an oil mill called Giardino del Sole. It is run by Mario Iaculli, together with his brother and his wife. It is not a large company. It is a family that has been making oil for over fifty years, always in the same place, in the Tavoliere. The Tavoliere delle Puglie is the second largest plain in Italy after the Po Valley.

When you open a bottle of this oil, you know who made it. It is three people. Not a department, not a purchased brand. The brother manages the mill, Mario oversees production and sales, and his wife takes care of everything else. Fifty years in the same trade leaves its mark on how you process the olives.

What "cold-pressed" means

On the label, you will see "cold-pressed" written. This isn't marketing jargon: it means that the olive paste is processed at a low temperature, without heating it to extract more oil.

Heating is profitable for those who want higher yield. It gets more oil out of fewer olives. But heat takes away the aromas and burns off the substances that make oil good to keep on the table rather than hide in cooking. Cold processing costs more and yields less. You can taste it at the first sip: the bitterness and spiciness that remain in the throat are those of the freshly crushed olive, not masked ones.

A label that says only what it is

Below the name, the label bears one line: "olives grown in Italy".

Nothing more. No codes, no promises that cannot be proven. We tell you what is written, exactly as it is written. The day the mill confirms other details about the origin to us in writing, you will read them here. Until then, the label speaks for itself. They only produce olives of the 100% Coratina variety.

How to use it

This is an oil for finishing dishes and for raw use. You would waste it by cooking with it.

A drizzle on warm bread. On burrata, before the salt. In legume soup, with the heat turned off, just before serving. On boiled vegetables, where there is nothing to mask it and it is either good or it isn't. Fava beans and chicory—if you are from Puglia, you already know. 🫒

The formats

1-liter bottle, for those who want to try it or keep it in the kitchen.

3 and 5-liter tin, for those who use it every day and don't want to run out. The tin protects the oil from light better than glass: if you buy it in quantity, it is the right choice to make it last.

The oil from the Giardino del Sole mill is the first step of the Il Primo Assaggio di Puglia journey. If you want to start here, you can find it in the store 👉 by clicking here 👈