Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil (2012)

Post by riquito » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 11:33 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #37

elorant wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best olive oil is Greek. Italian or Spanish ones are nowhere near the quality of Greek. In Greece more than 80% of total production is extra virgin while in Italy the percentage is less than 40% and in Spain 20%. Italians buy bulk olive oil from Greece and they mix it with their own oils to raise the quality. There are small brands that offer high quality extra virgin oil and I guess you could look some of them at yo…

Seconding this. It also tastes somewhat different, which is a matter of preference admittedly. I personally love the typical flavor of oil from Kalamata olives, which makes up a large part of the Greek-labeled production (i.e. bottled as Greek olive oil, rather than exported for blending). Greek marketing and distribution has been poor, however, and very slowly improving. The traditional place to buy it in the U.S. h…

Post by _delirium » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 11:42 PM UTC

riquito wrote: post #52

_delirium wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconding this. It also tastes somewhat different, which is a matter of preference admittedly. I personally love the typical flavor of oil from Kalamata olives, which makes up a large part of the Greek-labeled production (i.e. bottled as Greek olive oil, rather than exported for blending). Greek marketing and distribution has been poor, however, and very slowly improving. The traditional place to buy it in the U.S. h…

Nobody that I know buys 5-liter tins of oil (I'm italian) and I wouldn't even know where to buy them. The most common format is 1 liter, followed by 0.75

Post by Mikeb85 » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 11:47 PM UTC

powertower wrote: post #53

Personally, I only use grapeseed oil. I've tried olive, it's too heavy. Tried canola, it's okay. But grapeseed is amazing. It has no particular flavor, you could drink it and not become sick from the heavy load that typical oils will give you, etc.

Post by tptacek » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 11:51 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #48

omegant wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once a year I get some 5 liters of cold pressed virgin organic olive oil. I know it´s origin for sure because it comes from a private guy doing his own stuff on a small cold press (he is not for quantity just for the best quality for his family, it´s a hobby for him). I agree with you that you won´t find anithing similar in a store: It´s more acid, spicier, deep green, clowdy (it´s unfiltered) and very very tasty (it…

It baffles me how people are not puzzled how the "extra virgin" olive oil they use doesn't taste anything like olives. I mean, c'mon people, have you never tasted olives? How do you expect the "unadulterated" extract to have none of that flavor at all?

Post by 91bananas » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 11:58 PM UTC

omegant wrote: post #29

gpjt wrote: post #10

My parents retired to Italy a number of years ago, to a place with a hundred or so olive trees in the garden, and each November some of us head over to pick the olives (much to the amusement of the locals, who think we're crazy to do agricultural work in our spare time) and take them to a nearby pressing plant (where you can wander around and see the process to make sure your harvest isn't being mixed up with other,…

Once a year I get some 5 liters of cold pressed virgin organic olive oil. I know it´s origin for sure because it comes from a private guy doing his own stuff on a small cold press (he is not for quantity just for the best quality for his family, it´s a hobby for him). I agree with you that you won´t find anithing similar in a store: It´s more acid, spicier, deep green, clowdy (it´s unfiltered) and very very tasty (it…