Caramelized Olive Oil

I found this nifty little diddy from Chef Jose Andres on a Youtube vid on the EnthusioChefs channel. It’s a great place to find some inspiration. This was called caramelized olive oil.

Incredibly thin sugar capsules filled with olive oil. So simple and yet I keep staring at them.
Incredibly thin sugar capsules filled with olive oil. So simple and yet I keep staring at them.

You can watch it here:

It seems simple enough but there isn’t much to go on in the description besides:

…caramelized olive is passed through a ring mold filled with isomalt, encapsulating the olive oil in a glass candy coating.

To be honest, in typical manly fashion, I didn’t actually read the “About” section before doing it, so I guess I found another way to skin the same cat.

It looks a little like a ghost tadpole. That little red spot is burnt lemon zest. Silly rookie mistake tut tut.
It looks a little like a ghost tadpole. That little red spot is burnt lemon zest. Silly rookie mistake tut tut.

How I made mine is with plane castor sugar, heated up to melting point, dipped in a washer, and then poured in cool olive into the washer.  What I found is that the sugar needs to be heated very gently or it will burn and go bitter. Also, I made the rookie mistake of adding lemon zest to the sugar solution, which just burn. In a later attempt I added the lemon zest to the olive oil instead and it worked great.

With "a pinch of joy" amount of olive oil is all you need (that translates to 1/4 ts in case you didn't know).  My wife does a lot of happy baking, they're her heart-shaped measuring spoons... mine are in the wash.
“A pinch of joy” of olive oil is all you need (that translates to 1/4 ts in case you didn’t know). My wife does a lot of happy baking, they’re her heart-shaped measuring spoons… mine are in the wash.

It takes a bit of experimentation to get the right sugar temperature, too hot and the sugar won’t adhere to the washer, too cool and the droplet won’t form completely. My rough judgement is that it worked best at 105º C.

I had to MacGyver this one somewhat. Look familiar? It should, it's a toothpaste nozzle.
I had to MacGyver this one somewhat. Look familiar? It should, it’s a toothpaste nozzle.

As you would guess the better the olive oil the better. I opted for an Olyvenbosch olive oil that nabbed a Silver at the SA Olive Awards this year.

As you can see by the broken one yonder, they are incredibly brittle, and pretty frig'n awesome.
As you can see by the broken droplet yonder, they are incredibly brittle, and pretty frig’n awesome.

So long as you melt your sugar really slowly and use good olive oil, this is a definite winner. Something I see myself making a lot more in the future.