BERLIN – Pomegranate. Cranberry pear. Black truffle.
Exotic flavors in a candy shop? Quite the opposite.
They are just a few of many varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegar offered in Berlin’s newest specialty shop, Una Bella Salute.
“We’ve got an entire list of combinations you can mix,” said Deborah Nicolle, who opened the shop with her mother, Charlene McQuillen.
Una Bella Salute, which means “beautiful health” in Italian, offers customers an extensive array of flavored and unflavored olive oil as well as balsamic vinegar in several varieties. Nicole said she decided to open the shop after visiting a similar one in South Carolina.
“I fell in love with the concept and the product,” she said.
She and McQuillen underwent training in California before the distributor they chose would agree to service their shop. There they learned the chemistry of the products, the history of the flavors and where each came from. They learned which flavors paired well together, ideas for recipes using the products and the differences between fused and infused flavors.
“Fused is when they crush the fruit with the olives at the same time,” Nicolle said, pointing to a blood orange olive oil in the shop’s tasting room. “Infused is when the flavoring is added after.”
She and McQuillen are prepared to answer customers’ questions as they step past the gift section of Una Bella Salute, filled with pasta, cruets and gift baskets, and into its tasting room.
Steel tanks — called “fusti” in Italian — line the walls on both sides of the room and cover a center counter. The tanks store the olive oils and vinegars, which range in flavor from mild to robust. Each tank is labeled with a description of the product inside and advice on how to use it. Once customers decide which product they want, Nicolle or McQuillen fill a bottle with it. Small (200 milliliter) bottles are $8.95 no matter the contents, while large (750 milliliter) bottles are $19.95.
Nicolle said the “Tuscan Herb” flavored olive oil had been popular so far as had the “Cranberry Pear” balsamic vinegar.
Customers are given the opportunity to taste the products before they buy them. Nicolle even invites them to take the “taste challenge” by trying one of the shop’s olive oils after tasting the store brand oil she has on hand. She says the brands commonly sold in grocery stores are not necessarily pure or fresh and often use artificial coloring. The oil filling the tanks at Una Bella Salute, on the other hand, was just produced this spring.
“Our distributor requires that there’s no more than two hours between harvest and crush,” Nicole said. “It’s the freshest olive oil.”
Nicolle says what many people are unaware of are the health benefits of olive oil. Next month, she’ll be speaking at two Women Supporting Women events to share how olive oil can be beneficial to those suffering from cancer.
Nicolle explained that olive oil like the “Coratina Extra Virgin Olive Oil” was full of antioxidants that were good for the body.
“It gives it that peppery sensation,” she said, “but that’s a good thing.”
Because the shop features traditional olive oils as well as flavored ones, people are able to use olive oil in even more ways. Nicolle makes an effort to post recipes featuring the products she sells on the store’s Facebook page.
She encourages anyone who hasn’t been to an olive oil shop to stop by Una Bella Salute.
“A lot of people stop in just for the experience,” she said. “So many people have said it’s just so fun. It’s different.”