If you are an olive purist (or a chocolate purist, for that matter!!) this month’s Tapenade Olive Shop newsletter will come as something between a shock and a pleasant surprise.

Yes, olive oil and chocolate go together!! Just think of it - fruity, floral, musky, spicy or nutty, all words that are commonly used to describe both olives and chocolates.

While it may take some out-of-the-box thinking (which is how all great dishes are created), the surprisingly complimentary taste of olive and chocolate conspire to turn ice cream with olive oil, olive oil chocolate mousse or chocolate toast with olive oil into tastes which breathe new life into well-known everyday favourites. (See our recipe of the month below).

It’s not such a new or unknown concept in the SA olive industry either. Creative and daring producers have already introduced us to chocolate bars with bits of olive inside, in both dark and white chocolate. In a similar vein, you will also find sweet olives coated with chocolate.

Annalien Van der Colff and her husband Corrie moved to the farm Rhebokskraal in McGregor in 1990. With a degree in Fine Arts she planned to be a full time artist but, luckily for us all, things worked out a little differently.

Their olive estate produces a wide variety of interesting products, including smoked olive pâté and very popular dried olives.

Annalien found the inspiration for her olive chocolate under a bit of pressure from her sons, who joked that she had found a way to get her olives into just about everything except ice cream. When THAT proved a challenge, the olives found their way into the choc sauce on top!

The chocolates as they are now, with pieces of dried olive inside, do indeed melt deliciously over ice cream, but Annalien also found that the slightly salty taste reminded people of dark chocolate, making the bars a very nice after dinner treat with dessert wines.

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If all of the above has you either seated in the “Gotta have this now!” or in the “Curious, but not convinced” category, its time to stop reading and join us for the actual tasting experience.

August’s tasting event in Tapenade Olive Shop will feature a Belgian chocolate fountain into which you can dip sweet olives, the olive chocolates and a host of other sweet goodies which will hopefully not only tempt the senses, but also convince you further of the amazing versatility of this fruit.

Join us on Saturday morning the 26th of August from 10:30AM to 01:30PM in Tapenade Olive Shop, Shop U41, Cresta Centre. Booking not necessary. Just pop in for a taste – it’s a delicious distraction on a Saturday morning.

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