In spring and summer, you may have noticed beautiful and fresh baby carrots at gourmet stores or vegetable stands around the bay area. Baby carrots, the real ones, are young carrots that look just like miniature carrots. They are slender, very tender and a marvel to prepare a l'etouffe'e.
(In a small sauce pan with very little water, butter and a pinch of sugar, simmer and let the water evaporate.)
These fussy, colicky babies are available (in the northern hemisphere, at least) in the spring and early summer, and are extremely affected by what gardeners call "garden stress" (rain, drought, heat . . .). The pain to grow them explains the high price you'll pay.
They are not to be mistaken, however, with another kind of baby. In most stores, you will find the impostor babies, the fake babies, the baby wanna-bes! You've seen them: Shaped more like a torpedo than a natural carrot, they are ubiquitous and priced at a suspicious $1.99 a pound. They are the ones you see at cheap cocktail parties, sadly waiting to be dipped in ranch or blue cheese dressing.
Pseudo baby carrots are in fact regular-sized carrots. To achieve the baby subterfuge, food companies divide carrots into two to four pieces (to resemble real baby carrots), and then run the fakes in a machine that looks like a washing machine with sandpaper inside. The rotation, combined with the coarseness of the sandpaper, shapes the carrots into the form we all know.
The result is one big carrot whittled down into a handful of babies. They are not as sweet, tender and not nearly as delightful as the real baby carrots.
In fact, on most bags of fakes, you will find three words. The words "baby" and "carrots" are in large, bold letters. In between, in tiny, tiny letters lurks the cheater word - cut - hence changing the whole meaning of what is in the bag.
Ah, the shameful marketers!
And since we are on the subject of abject marketing techniques, and because I received a lot of mail concerning olive oil, let me say a word about extra virgin, virgin, pure and light olive oils.
Extra virgin and virgin denote a mechanically pressed oil, with no heat in the process - hence the term "cold pressed." What makes the difference between these two perfect oils is the level of acidity. Extra virgin has less than 0.8 percent acidity, while virgin has 0.8 percent to 3 percent.
Extra virgin is the oil of the highest quality, and boasts a perfect, fruity taste, with a color that can range from crystalline champagne to greenish-golden to bright green. It can be extremely pricey, especially if it's estate grown and well-made.
Now, I know the word PURE sounds good to you. It sounds good to me. However, when it comes to olive oil, I recommend staying as far away from it as you possibly can.
Pure olive oil is, in fact, an olive oil that is not good enough to get the label extra virgin or virgin. It has been refined with the use of charcoal and other chemical and physical filters to decrease the acidity level. Unfortunately, more than 50 percent of the oil produced in the Mediterranean region is of such poor quality that it must be refined to produce a usable product.
Likewise, a label with just "olive oil" on it (as opposed to extra virgin or virgin) is an oil consisting of a blend of pure olive oil and virgin olive oils fit for consumption. It has an acidity level of less than 1 percent but that has been obtained by mixing cheap pure oil with a flavorful virgin oil.
Remember this when you buy: If extra virgin or virgin is not on the label, then it's not.
And that brings us to the intriguing light olive oil. Is there such a thing as a light oil, anyway? The light designation refers to flavor, not caloric content, as all olive oil has the same amount of calories. In this country, flavorless and often low quality (pure) oil is sold as "lite" or "light" oil for a premium price. There is no official definition of lite or light olive oil.
But don't take my word for it. I urge you to let your senses speak. Buy a mixed bag of oils and taste them individually. Use wine glasses and pay attention to color, smells and tastes. Chances are you will reach the same conclusions I did.
From a culinary standpoint, light, pure and just regular olive oil have no place in a gourmet kitchen. If I was president (heaven forbid), I would outlaw them on my first day in office.
I always recommend two extra virgin olive oils: a cheaper, more generic oil to cook with, and the best estate-grown oil your money can buy for salad dressing and drizzling.
Chef Gui Alinat welcomes questions about cooking and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, he can't take phone calls or answer individual requests. Send questions to him in care of Taste, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail him at chefgui@chefgui.com Please include your name and city of residence.
