I’ve always wondered if Americans can follow the Mediterranean diet with all the reports of our olive oil being conterfiets.
Look for olive oil from California. It's really only olive oil.
Yeah cause there's no way they'd fake that
What's behind Mediterranean diet and lower cardiovascular risk
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Re: What's behind Mediterranean diet and lower cardiovascular risk
#42Re: What's behind Mediterranean diet and lower cardiovascular risk
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look for olive oil from California. It's really only olive oil.
Yeah cause there's no way they'd fake that
Exactly.
Domestic production is regulated and certified by the US government, transported through short supply chains subject to auditing. Tampering with food supplies is very difficult to execute and harshly punished when inevitably detected. Food safety and consumer confidence are a high priority for commercial and public interests... you have never worried about watered down milk, you shouldn't worry about 100% domestic olive oil.
Compared to imported goods... foreign governments are trusted to do their job before goods make their way through long and slow international supply chains. Plenty of time for undetected tampering before goods make it to American distributors. Tracking down diluted olive oil across an ocean is difficult, the other side has plausible deniability, the risk/reward of the crime is much better.
I'm not saying our oil is better - just trustworthy. You get what the label says.
Re: What's behind Mediterranean diet and lower cardiovascular risk
#44I’ve always wondered if Americans can follow the Mediterranean diet with all the reports of our olive oil being conterfiets.
Look for olive oil from California. It's really only olive oil.
I developed a... not quite an obsession, maybe a strong interest, in olive oil six or seven years ago. My interest was initially piqued by a report I heard on NPR about the health benefits. I learned the importance of the date the olives were pressed (fresher is better, go figure) and that, while countries in Europe might produce high quality olive oil, the quality stuff typically gets sold in Europe and the dregs get shipped to America and other countries.
I have tried many different brands of olive oil in the interim years and I can say the best I have personally found in America come from California. I have absolutely no personal interest in either of the companies below, they just produce quality olive oil.
My favorite by a wide margin is Sciabica, the oil they produce has that peppery bite people describe that makes you cough when you take a swig of it. I have never seen it sold in stores though, only online. Also, it is a little pricey.
The other quality oil I have found is Californian Olive Ranch. It is not as good as Sciabica in my opinion but they have a wide distribution. I have found them at grocery stores on both the west and east coast of the US. There is one BIG caveat with this brand though. More often than not stores are carrying bottles that are one or even two years old. It's easy to tell how old it is because they are one of the few companies that print the pressed on date on the back of the bottle.
In general the two most important qualities of an olive oil in my experience are purity (not mixed with other oils) and pressed on date. If a brand doesn't print the pressed on date on the bottle walk away, it is garbage; very few brands do this. Olives are typically harvested between September and December, that is when you are going to get the freshest best tasting oil.