For thirty years, Jim Litman built legendary kitchens. Then he traded the pass for the press.
He opened restaurants from nothing. He mentored cooks who earned Michelin stars. He raised two boys on his own between services. And through all of it, he kept going back to Tarragona.
The light. The groves. The ancient trees that had been producing oil since before anyone could remember. When he finally left the kitchen, he didn't retire. He grafted.
Empelt — Catalan for "graft" — is the ancient technique that gives the Empeltre olive its name. These trees can't root on their own. They must be grafted onto older stock by human hands. It takes patience. It takes craft. It takes someone who understands that the best things are made slowly.