We have recently launched Olive Oil Jam here in Britain. The product is a brand new concept which allows you to begin the day with a healthy start. Traditionally, people would often eat toast with Butter (or Margarine) and Jam, which delivers a tasty breakfast meal, albeit, loaded with saturated fat and sugar. We have taken inspiration from the Mediterranean to create a novel and unique flavour which incorporates Fruit with Honey for a natural sweetness, finished with Extra Virgin Olive Oil to provide you with the goodness from this wonderful product from the morning on.
We realise that this is a brand new concept so as part of our efforts to introduce the product to the people of Britain we recently participated at the Foodies Festival in Battersea Park. This was our first time to exhibit at a consumer food event so you can imagine the excitement inside us! Battersea Park is a fantastic central location, just beside the River Thames. We couldn’t have been more fortunate with the weather as it was an incredible 30+ degrees each day – there were some great refreshment stands on site, serving everything from Fresh Lemonade to Swiss Beer (made with Swiss Alpine Water) to Ginger & Lime juices!
From the word go, we soon began to attract large crowds of people to our stand, as they realised we had something truly unique to show. Being a ‘Foodies Festival’ we knew we would be up against some of Britain’s toughest food critics, the ‘real consumers’ of Britain. The test was on….4 flavours of Jam and a queue of food critics – we are pleased to say that the feedback reinforced the comments we received at the Speciality Harrogate Trade Show, with typical comments including words like ‘Delish!”, “Love the natural sweetness”, “Great branding – love the recipe ideas on the back!” We would like to offer a big thank you to the hundreds of people who tried and bought our Olive Oil Jam – and Olive Oil of course, but we know that our Olive Oil is great 
Olive Oil Jam is more than just Jam – the unique combination of ingredients makes it suitable in both sweet and savoury uses. The ingredients include Fruit, Honey and Extra Virgin Olive Oil, each of which suit meat in cooking very well. We wanted to show the versatility of Olive Oil Jam, so in true Olive Branch style, we co-hosted a cooking demonstration on Saturday 18th August together with Chef Consultant Christina Bridge.
Christina had prepared a Trio of Hams, each of which was glazed with a different flavour of Olive Oil Jam. Here is her recipe:
- Soak the ham in water for 30 minutes to desalt
- Pour bottle of fruit cider into pan. Place rosemary, bay leaves and carrots into pan
- Place ham hock in the pan and leave to marinate in the fridge overnight
- The next day, place the pan over a stove and boil for 90 minutes
- After boiling, remove the hock from the pan and place on a baking tray. Score fat in a diamond pattern
- Rub the ham with Olive Branch Olive Oil, then glaze with Olive Oil Jam. Christina created a Trio of Hams, so she glazed hers with the Strawberry, Cherry and Forest Fruit Flavours
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes so the flavours of the Olive Oil Jam infuse through the cooked ham
Within seconds of serving, we had queues of people waiting to try the treats and what pleased us more is that they went on to stay on our stand to learn more about the products and especially to tap into Maria’s encyclopaedic knowledge of Olive Oil! We enjoyed discussing the many uses of Olive Oil Jam and we hope that the product’s new fans will enjoy using our recipes in the weeks to come!