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

theguardian.com

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

#61

Post by tptacek »

There is absolutely no way anybody who is serious about olive oil could mistake a serious Tuscan or Greek olive oil for Bertolli, for exactly the reason the article points out: serious olive oil has a grassy, peppery flavor that fills your throat and sinuses; it's unmistakeable, like the difference between a 3 Floyds Dreadnaught DIPA and Bud Light, and the reason Bertolli has "corrupted" extra virgin olive oil is that American consumers won't routinely buy it. I find the anecdote at the beginning of the article hard to reconcile with the rest of the piece!

(Bertolli-style oil is a fine thing to have in your kitchen, too; you might not want your mayonnaise to taste like strong Greek olive oil.)

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

#62

Post by thezilch »

jseliger wrote: post #35
colanderman wrote: post #4

Does anyone have any tips for finding quality olive oil? The only way I've had success is to buy inexpensive single-source stuff, even if it's inexpensive and non-Italian. Best olive oils I've had were single-sourced from Spain; $2 from a discount store. Maybe no-one wants to fake non-Italian oil?

I've been buying California Olive Ranch oil for a while, after reading this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/dining/californias-olive-o... . It's about $16 – $17 for 750ml or about $20 – $21 for 1 liter. That's more expensive than generic olive oil but less expensive than many of the alternatives.

Likewise, and you don't have to visit a Whole Foods like place. I get mine from a Vons / Pavillions, among the 50 other choices -- LOL.

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

#64

Post by nextos »

colanderman wrote: post #4

Does anyone have any tips for finding quality olive oil? The only way I've had success is to buy inexpensive single-source stuff, even if it's inexpensive and non-Italian. Best olive oils I've had were single-sourced from Spain; $2 from a discount store. Maybe no-one wants to fake non-Italian oil?

I know a thing or two about olive oil. My family has had olive trees for centuries---probably since the Roman Empire.

A decent heuristic for finding good olive oil is to look for small producers that cultivate weird local olive varieties. These are generally the ones aiming at high quality. Such varieties are usually much less profitable.

Don't listen to people saying that Greek oil is the best one. That's utter non-sense, and a gross generalization. It's like saying that French cars are better than German ones. Sure, some French cars are awesome, but the Germans produce some fine ones too.

I'm Italian, and my favorite variety is Manzanilla Cacereña---a really weird olive oil from mid-West Spain. There are some fine Portuguese, French, Italian, Greek... ones as well. Just find a good local producer through the Internet and get it shipped to your place. I buy everything using this procedure. It's a bit inconvenient initially, but once you find your suppliers...

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

#65

Post by thezilch »

tptacek wrote: post #61

There is absolutely no way anybody who is serious about olive oil could mistake a serious Tuscan or Greek olive oil for Bertolli, for exactly the reason the article points out: serious olive oil has a grassy, peppery flavor that fills your throat and sinuses; it's unmistakeable, like the difference between a 3 Floyds Dreadnaught DIPA and Bud Light, and the reason Bertolli has "corrupted" extra virgin olive oil is tha…

So, unless you are "serious" about oil, you have to take a shot in the dark? I'm no professional cook, but I do have a passion and cook new dishes weekly. I couldn't possibly know, from the store labels, what I can expect out of the 50 versions of EVO on the shelves. They're all EVO, unless I'm serious? They're all from Italy or Greece, unless I'm serious? There's no grounds for oils between Bertolli and "serious" oils that are better suited for salads or dipping -- the "serious" EVOs? The problem exists for $8 to $50 bottles; how can consumers possibly inform themselves that they are buying crap?

Luckily for me, I stumbled upon California Olive Ranch oil.

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

#66

Post by lostlogin »

pyrocat wrote: post #44

I use lemon pressed olive oil on almost all my cooking now and it's delicious.

Hmm, citrus everywhere. I've just finished oiling my floor (last night!) with an oil that seems to have a lot of citrus oil in it, judging by the smell and contents label. Looks great, is patch repairable (sand and reapply) and is nice to work with, none of which apply to polyurethane after the first scratch. http://www.naturalhouse.co.nz/shop/java-classic-resin-oil/

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

#67

Post by dkoch »

colanderman wrote: post #4

Does anyone have any tips for finding quality olive oil? The only way I've had success is to buy inexpensive single-source stuff, even if it's inexpensive and non-Italian. Best olive oils I've had were single-sourced from Spain; $2 from a discount store. Maybe no-one wants to fake non-Italian oil?

If you've got a Costco membership, their extra virgin Toscano is a great tasting oil (if you like that peppery back-of-the-throat taste) and a bargain, about $15/liter in a glass bottle.

I'm not sure if it's available at all locations, seems to come and go seasonally at mine.

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

#69

Post by tptacek »

thezilch wrote: post #65
tptacek wrote: post #61

There is absolutely no way anybody who is serious about olive oil could mistake a serious Tuscan or Greek olive oil for Bertolli, for exactly the reason the article points out: serious olive oil has a grassy, peppery flavor that fills your throat and sinuses; it's unmistakeable, like the difference between a 3 Floyds Dreadnaught DIPA and Bud Light, and the reason Bertolli has "corrupted" extra virgin olive oil is tha…

So, unless you are "serious" about oil, you have to take a shot in the dark? I'm no professional cook, but I do have a passion and cook new dishes weekly. I couldn't possibly know, from the store labels, what I can expect out of the 50 versions of EVO on the shelves. They're all EVO, unless I'm serious? They're all from Italy or Greece, unless I'm serious? There's no grounds for oils between Bertolli and "serious" oi…

Yes, if you're buying olive oil at the supermarket, it's going to be a crap shoot. But you're going to know immediately that you've got bland oil (if it tastes anything like other supermarket oils, it's bland; the difference isn't subtle --- again, think about the difference between an IPA and a lager).

Again, a good way to handle this is to drop $35 on a bottle from some place like Zingermans, and just use it as a benchmark.

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

#70

Post by rafcavallaro »

_delirium wrote: post #54
riquito wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Apparently I have bad memory, because 3-L is what I was thinking of, not 5-L. I'm not Italian myself, but my Italian landlord brings these kinds of things (not the same brand, but same format) regularly: http://www.colavita.com/store/images/products/EV_Oils/Med-Ti... Most households in Greece will have something like that, and they're easy to find in any country if you go to a Turkish, Greek, or Arab supermarket. I c…

Don't confuse olive oil for cooking (commonly purchased in 3 liter tins) with extra virgin olive oil. This article is about extra virgin olive oil. EVOO is usually consumed raw, unheated, with bread, cheese, on salads - it would completely defeat the purpose of the EVOO production technique which is one of low temperture, purely mechanical extraction, to heat EVOO to high temperatures as is commonly done with lower grades of olive oil.
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