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Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

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Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#71

Post by giardini »

docbrown wrote: post #58
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

In addition to Italy, Europe as a whole is pretty picky when it comes to olive oil. As an anglo who was introduced to authentic olive oil imported from Greece.. there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil.

docbrown says> "there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil."

Is there a taste/test that someone like me, who is a neophyte and definitely not an expert, could distinguish/use?

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#72

Post by airstrike »

btilly wrote: post #70
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

To that I'd suggest reading https://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-fake-extra-virgin-... . Since then I've bought California olive oil and giggled at all of the Italian brands. About the article, my honest first thought was, "Does it matter? They already weren't selling olive oil in the first place, now they just have to pretend harder."

"You might raise your eyebrows at the conclusion that Australian and California extra virgin olive oils are purer than most Italian olive oils, since the research was partially funded by the California Olive Ranch and the California Olive Oil Council and has ties with the Australian Olive Association"

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#73

Post by vanderZwan »

btilly wrote: post #70
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

To that I'd suggest reading https://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-fake-extra-virgin-... . Since then I've bought California olive oil and giggled at all of the Italian brands. About the article, my honest first thought was, "Does it matter? They already weren't selling olive oil in the first place, now they just have to pretend harder."

Interesting!

Since that article is from 2011, I wanted to see if there was any follow-up research on that. Using the paper's title as a starting point on Google Scholar I could only find better techniques for checking, but no papers sampling many brands. Then I noticed that the PDF was hosted on "olivecenter.ucdavis.edu"[0]. Going to that website revealed no further research either. In fact, the research tab of their menu links to example.com[1]. Bit annoying, that.

[0] http://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/what-we-do/report%20041211%20...

[1] https://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#74

Post by AndyMcConachie »

docbrown wrote: post #58
vanderZwan wrote: post #53

People outside of Italy are probably not aware of how seriously they take the topic of olive oil over there. The label "extra vergine" increases the price so much that there is a huge economic incentive for fraud. To combat this they have a taste police (literally) that checks that olive oil samples are not secretly mixes of fresh and old oil together. They are... quite opinionated, as you can see this exchange from…

In addition to Italy, Europe as a whole is pretty picky when it comes to olive oil. As an anglo who was introduced to authentic olive oil imported from Greece.. there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil.

Many years ago I started using an Iraqi olive oil that I still love to cook with. I can only buy it in Turkish shops, but I've never been able to find anything else quite like it. I live in The Netherlands.

If you happen to visit a wine growing region try instead to go olive oil tasting. Typically the two go together and I find different olive oils much more interesting. In addition if you bring back 2 or 3 good bottles of oil they will last much longer than 2-3 bottles of wine.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#75

Post by vanderZwan »

airstrike wrote: post #72
btilly wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To that I'd suggest reading https://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-fake-extra-virgin-... . Since then I've bought California olive oil and giggled at all of the Italian brands. About the article, my honest first thought was, "Does it matter? They already weren't selling olive oil in the first place, now they just have to pretend harder."

"You might raise your eyebrows at the conclusion that Australian and California extra virgin olive oils are purer than most Italian olive oils, since the research was partially funded by the California Olive Ranch and the California Olive Oil Council and has ties with the Australian Olive Association"

Well, most Italian olive oils sold in California. I think that makes it a lot less surprising. The regulations of the oil fraud police of Italy only apply to Italy, after all.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#76

Post by vanderZwan »

giardini wrote: post #71
docbrown wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to Italy, Europe as a whole is pretty picky when it comes to olive oil. As an anglo who was introduced to authentic olive oil imported from Greece.. there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil.

docbrown says> "there is a very serious distinct taste difference between cheap and legitimate olive oil." Is there a taste/test that someone like me, who is a neophyte and definitely not an expert, could distinguish/use?

A side by side comparison. It's very hard to miss, unless your sense of smell is diminished for whatever reason.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#77

Post by pingec »

buboard wrote: post #49
jimbokun wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, what brought you to Hacker News? It's fascinating the variety of people who contribute here, and I'm wondering what would bring a Portuguese farmer to a site centered around technology and entrepreneurship. (I suppose I could equally ask why this site would be discussing a bacterial outbreak in Italian olive trees, and the answer could be "because it's interesting" to both questions.)

It is not uncommon to own olive orchards in southern europe (a family thing). I have olives too.

Same here, family tradition. Hello from Slovenia. We are also closely monitoring the situation in Italy. There are other plants that can be infected by X. fastidiosa and should be monitored for signs of disease for example here we are worried about oleander plants that were imported from South Italy.

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#78

Post by Cyph0n »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #28
mlrtime wrote: post #18

I was pretty shocked to learn that most (~80%) of the Italian extra virgin olive oil that comes into the US is neither Italian or olive oil. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-...

It is olive oil- it's just not extra virgin olive oil, produced by olive flesh (i.e. not the seeds) and only by mechanical extraction (i.e. no heat or chemical processing). The fraud is in the fact that it is advertised as extra virgin, the highest recognised quality, when it's not. Also, it is Italian, only not purely so. It is often mixed in with oils from other places. The problem is when the mix-ins are from Nort…

> The problem is when the mix-ins are from North Africa, e.g. from Morocco, which are considered of inferior quality

Tunisian here. I'm curious: why is North African olive oil considered inferior?

Re: Italy’s olive crisis intensifies as deadly tree disease spreads

#79

Post by dmix »

chicob wrote: post #65
jimbokun wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, what brought you to Hacker News? It's fascinating the variety of people who contribute here, and I'm wondering what would bring a Portuguese farmer to a site centered around technology and entrepreneurship. (I suppose I could equally ask why this site would be discussing a bacterial outbreak in Italian olive trees, and the answer could be "because it's interesting" to both questions.)

I really like Hacker News, and I usually read my tech-related news here first. Farming is kind of the family business, and I love it. I am also a physicist by training, and thus my interest in technology in general. Agriculture is becoming increasingly technological, and everything from farming gadgets to John Deere tractors hacking has come up many times. There are even some Plasma Physics applications to agricultur…

I'm a programmer and I ended up following a farmer on Youtube [1] originally because he walked through all the tech he used on his tractor (ie, Fieldview) and elsewhere on the farm in a couple videos. I watch his videos whenever they come up now.

I love the level of organization and precision that industry is gaining. It's a good inspiration for software in other traditional areas (combined with practical AI applications and DIY hardware as well).

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwz2NribLYo

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