“Hey Claude,” he wrote. “We are trying to find an elegant olive oil cruet to have on our tables. Have you run across anything? All I can find are hokey ones.”

Cruets and extra virgin olive oil were a natural combo, of course. So I did some investigative work on the Internet.

There’s a notable site, Cruets.com, which offers hand-blown cruets. I also learned some valuable information from Cruets.com:

- Oil and vinegar cruets are dispensers, not storage containers.
- Dripless cruets are considered culinary tools by chefs who use them to meter or drizzle fine oils.
- Glass, ceramic, or stainless steel are the most “healthy” materials for cruets. Glass is considered the best choice, because you can see the amount of fluid inside the cruet.
- Cruets made from cheap glass can break easily, while others made from restaurant-grade glass are more durable.

In addition, some restaurants use a “glass-within-glass” vessel. It has two pour spouts for olive oil and vinegar – like the tomatoes-on-the-vine cruet pictured here. It’s available from Cruets.com. The inside vessel, the tomatoes, holds the vinegar while the outer vessel holds the olive oil. These cruets can both conserve table real estate and be a conversation topic, Cruets.com notes.

These sites also offer cruets:

www.cooking.com
www.potterybarn.com
www.surlatable.com
www.amazon.com

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch