Olio Dante S.p.A. – renowned producer of Italy’s number-one single-brand olive oil – showcased a number of product innovations at the recently concluded TUTTOFOOD expo in Milan. 

The innovations on show at Italy’s top meeting-place for food & beverage professionals included the Dante brand’s new Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oils line, alongside innovations to its range Vinegars, as well as new Sauces and Condiments. 

Dante Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oils

With premium quality guaranteed by a historical Italian brand, Olio Dante brings the classic taste of European blend extra virgin olive oil, enriched with herbs from the Mediterranean. Satisfying the most demanding consumers and food lovers, the new Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oils range has been crafted to enrich in taste as well as aromas the dishes of traditional and international cuisine alike. 

To create the new flavor innovations, Dante’s celebrated extra virgin olive oil has been enriched with a selection of exquisite ingredients: lemon; chili pepper; basil; black truffle; garlic and chili pepper; rosemary; Porcini mushrooms.

The new product line is certified to an array of international standards, including the International Food Standard (IFS); UNI EN ISO 9001: 2008; and BRC Standard – Food.

Dante Flavored Extra Virgin Olive Oils are packaged in a 250ml dorica glass bottle and boast an 18-month shelf-life. 

Dante Vinegars Range

With premium quality guaranteed by the historical Dante brand comes a range of vinegars: Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, White Wine Vinegar, and Red Wine Vinegar. 

Registered as a PGI by the EU, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena can only be produced in the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emila – areas where grapes boasting just the right concentration of sugars and acidity are found in abundance. The product is matured in oak and chestnut casks for at least two months.

Next, a classic flavour vinegar specially produced from selected Italian wine cellars, Dante White Wine Vinegar is well suited as a key ingredient in both traditional and innovative cuisine. The product is particularly suitable for fresh and boiled vegetables, on boiled foods, to make sauces, and in dressings for both meat and fish. 

Rounding off the range is Dante Red Wine Vinegar – specially produced wine vinegar from selected Italian wine cellars. The vinegar is ideal with both raw and cooked vegetables; it also adds a unique flavour to meats and sauces. 

All three varieties in Dante’s vinegar range are available in 250/500ml bottles, and 5L PET.

Dante Sauces and Toppings Product Range

The recent expo also served as the ideal platform through which the company could showcase its Dante Sauces and Toppings. The new product range is geared towards seasoning pasta dishes, meat or vegetables; the product range is also excellent on hot bread croutons, served during an aperitif.

The new range includes ‘Tomatoes Bruschetta’ – one of the classic Italian appetisers. Next is ‘Artichokes Cream’ – a simple but very tasty recipe created from the artichokes by adding oil and oregano. ‘Porcini mushrooms cream’ features an intense aroma and a refined taste that can inspire your creativity in making tasty recipes. Then, there is the bold-flavoured ‘Hot black olives tapenade’ – perfect for delicious appetisers and spread on crusty bread. Elsewhere in the range, Dante presents ‘Pesto alla Genovese’ – a variant of the classic Genoese Pesto with the addition of cashews for a slightly sweeter taste, yet remaining faithful to the traditional recipe. Rounding off the range of sauces is ‘Arrabbiata Pesto’ – a tomato and chili pesto featuring a characteristically hot and spicy taste.

With international certifications including BRC Standard – Food; ISO 14021; and Food Product Certification SGS for Pesto alla Genovese N.IT15/0818, the new range is available in 135g/180 g glass jar packaging and boasts a 24-month shelf life.

Bringing poetry to the table

This year marks the 700th anniversary of the death of renowned poet Dante Alighieri – author of the Divine Comedy and father of the Italian language. To commemorate the milestone, throughout 2021 Olio Dante has dedicated a Special Edition label to two of its best-selling products: Dante olive oil ‘Il Classico’ – the number one single-brand olive oil in Italy (Nielsen data, FY2020) – and Dante Extra Virgin Olive Oil ‘100% Italian’ offer for large-scale retailers. You can browse the web page dedicated to the writer that inspired the brand and find out more about the unusual link between Dante Alighieri and the brand.

In 1898, when the first oil shipments took place to reach North America, Argentina and Australia, the goal was to bring a piece of Italy to tables all over the world: so it was that the idea of exporting a product named Dante – in order to create an immediate and direct link to Italy, the Belpaese (‘beautiful country’) – was born.