Two infused oils, and the oil underneath them

Cirulli’s Umbrian extra virgin with basil and chilli oils from Sardinia beside it, and two shapes of Donna Itriya pasta. The chilli oil is the one people finish first.

What the infused oils are actually for

An infused oil is a finishing oil, not a cooking one – heat it and the aromatics you paid for go up the extractor fan. Use them cold and at the end: basil over tomatoes and mozzarella, chilli over anything with beans or greens in it, rosemary over roast potatoes once they are already out of the oven, lemon over fish and over courgettes. The plain extra virgin is the one that does the cooking. Keep all of them in a cupboard rather than beside the hob; light and heat are what turn good oil flat.

Who makes it

Cirulli press their oil in Umbria from their own groves and bottle it unfiltered in small runs – it is a green, peppery oil with the catch at the back of the throat that tells you the polyphenols are still in it. D’Olia work in Sardinia and infuse with real herbs and fruit rather than flavourings. Donna Itriya make their pasta in Puglia with ancient grains and bronze dies, which is why sauce clings to it. We import all of them ourselves rather than buying through a wholesaler, which is the only reason a hamper at this price can hold oil at this level. You can read how the protected designations work at the European Commission.

Packing and delivery

We pack this by hand in Worcestershire in a matte-black gift box with a printed ivory-cream sleeve, on the day it leaves us, every bottle wrapped so nothing moves in transit. We deliver across mainland UK and can send it straight to the recipient with a handwritten card and no prices anywhere in the parcel. Everything in the box is ambient and none of it needs eating in a hurry – olive oil is at its best within a year of pressing, so there is no rush and no waste. See the rest of the range on our italian hampers page.

How to serve it

Start by tasting the plain oil on its own, warmed for a moment in the palm of the hand and sipped rather than dipped – bread flatters everything and tells you nothing. After that: good oil over anything already cooked, vinegar or glaze on anything roasted, and the crackers and almonds straight out of the pack with a glass of something cold. Store every bottle in a cupboard with the cap on tight. Oil does not improve with keeping, so use the good one rather than saving it.