Inside of the Mayberry Landing Boutique Shopping Center, a friend of mine pointed to an olive oil place on a whim – Big Horn Olive Oil. I had done an olive oil tasting before; while she had not, setting me up in this instance as a connoisseur for the common Mediterranean cuisine ingredient.
The idea of trying flavored olive oil and balsamic vinegar seems unusual, especially since those products typically do not come in flavors like mango and apricot. One of the store’s employees, Ego Onunaku, explained this phenomenon.
“It does sound kind of weird that there's a store of olive oil and vinegar, but once you come in and actually try it, then you can see why there's so many flavors and so many choices,” she said.
My friend experienced this progression – almost verbatim – as we went through the store. I finally convinced her to sample an apricot olive oil, and to her surprise, she enjoyed it. On the other hand, I knew exactly what flavor of olive oil I wanted, since I discovered the pairing of the spicy harissa olive oil and tangy mango balsamic at a previous tasting.
Finding pairings is something that the employees at Big Horn Olive Oil assist customers with. They know which flavors are popular, which ones go well together, and how you can use a balsamic in cooking.
“It's kind of overwhelming, so you have to kind of give them the breakdown of the store,” Onunaku said. “Pretty much just being on the floor, giving people pairings and showing them what they can do with the product for the most part.”
In addition to having products of different flavors, Big Horn Olive Oil also claims a higher quality than products bought at a grocery store.
“Ours is super fresh because once it's harvested, it has to be crushed into an oil two to four hours after it's harvested,” Onunaku said of olives in the oils being sold here. “Whereas like a regular grocery store, they don't have the same requirements because ours is ultra premium extra virgin, rather than just extra virgin.”
“We have a lot of restaurants that actually buy from us to make their product, because they know it's high quality, and because you can just taste it in the flavor, you can taste the quality of it,” she added.
Onunaku listed a couple of local restaurants, like Centro and Smiling With Hope Pizza, that purchase various products from Big Horn Olive Oil. She also noted that other restaurants purchase truffle oils from them as well.
As a small local business, Big Horn Olive Oil also gives back to the Reno community. They have a thank-you message from the Reed High School wrestling team on the wall by their checkout counter. The company helped fund travel costs for the team.
“We're always giving donations for people to do their raffles or even the Reed High School,” Onunaku said. “So just pretty much a lot of local donations for people that come in and ask for help with that kind of thing.”
After any visit, mouths are watering for that next taste of tasty olive oils paired perfectly with a delicious balsamic vinegar.