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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)

#81

Post by Aloisius »

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?

Find a place that does olive oil tastings and taste them. Seriously.

The Spanish wonder why Americans like Italian olive oil. The Italians wonder why Europeans like Spanish olive oil. The Greeks wonder why people call anything but what comes from Greece olive oil. The French wonder why everyone doesn't use butter.

But the fact is, the best olive oil is the one you like best. I'm lucky enough to be in the Bay Area and olive oil tastings are very easy to come by and so I've found a couple California olive oils that suit me just fine.

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

#82

Post by boyter »

thiswave wrote: post #43
rustynails wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Italians have been caught selling rancid and impure olive oil in Australia about once per year (ie. just about every time it's checked). It applied to cheaper and expensive oils, so cost wasn't a judge. I don't buy Italian olive oils any more because of the wide-spread deception. To be fair to the Italians, they were as dishonest as the Greeks and the Spanish. The list of brands was very long and the levels of ra…

You might be thinking of Cobram Estate[1] Olive Oil? My mate actually works in their factory in Lara, Victoria. Apparently the family who owns it are very generous, and he comes home with a box of olive oil every other month (with one or two bottles then finding their way into my hands). Cobram Estate, as well as many other Australian olive oil brands are certified by the Australian Olive Association[2]. For some rea…

That's good to know.

Cobram Estate is the oil I buy for dripping/drizzling on any food I eat. I just found it to have the best flavor out of the oils I tried and since they are Australian I thought I woulds stick with them.

I use random Spanish out of a can for cooking though.

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

#83

Post by bhickey »

seliopou wrote: post #15
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?

Here's what you do. Make friends with immigrants that still have connections to their olive oil producing motherland. They either get shipments from their family, know somebody else in their community that gets shipments, or know somebody back home that may be willing to ship some. Ask them if you can buy some from them. Or, be nice to them and they may offer you some as a gift. I've done this on many occasions, and…

Spiros -- can you hook me up next time you're on this coast?

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

#84

Post by nullc »

My first experience with proper olive oil was ordering some from http://www.amphoranueva.com/ after one of their coratina oils was suggested by someone on some forum who'd done chemical assaying on a number of oils looking for polyphenol content, as relevant to some moderately supported study results on positive health outcomes.

I couldn't have been happier with the result... and even if you use a fair amount of oil it still takes a while to go through 750ml of the stuff, so that fact that it's $18/bottle doesn't break the bank. (and it keeps well if kept isolated from air and light) Er, well, I mean used properly: raw in food, not for cooking. You shouldn't heat good evo as its smoke point is lower than random supermarket mystery olive oil, and heating it removes most of the flavor anyways.

Opinions may differ though, I could certainly see some people really disliking the grassy acidic flavor of strong EVO.

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

#85

Post by simonebrunozzi »

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,…

That's actually cool. I am from Italy (Umbria), and I can appreciate why you do it. In which area are you doing it? Just curious.

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

#86

Post by TwiztidK »

tptacek wrote: post #69
thezilch wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 b…

Zingerman's is like oil overload. Last time I was there I couldn't even dream about picking a single one out of their entire stock. I just wish there were a way to reliably find reasonably priced, quality oil since I can't afford to spend anywhere near $35/bottle on olive oil more than once or twice.

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

#87

Post by westicle »

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?

My family actually runs a small oil-producing olive grove in Tasmania, Australia.

Our olives are hand-picked and cold pressed within 24 hours of picking. We produce about 200-250L of oil per year so it is a boutique operation.

We are currently bottling our 2013 oil and have a few bottles in excess of our pre-orders. If anyone on HN is interested in a bottle of gold medal standard Tasmanian oil, please message me for the details.

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

#88

Post by dunham »

bobf wrote: post #45
pyrocat wrote: post #44

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

Round Pond Estate has some wonderful olive oil with citrus aromatics, including one with Meyer lemon that you would probably love. If you're in the SF area, they also do tours of their winery + olive oil press/facilities.

Their red wine vinegars are worth a try too. (Honestly, it's the only non-mass-market red wine vinegar I've tried, but I'm really happy with it.)

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

#89

Post by willthames »

westicle wrote: post #87
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?

My family actually runs a small oil-producing olive grove in Tasmania, Australia. Our olives are hand-picked and cold pressed within 24 hours of picking. We produce about 200-250L of oil per year so it is a boutique operation. We are currently bottling our 2013 oil and have a few bottles in excess of our pre-orders. If anyone on HN is interested in a bottle of gold medal standard Tasmanian oil, please message me for…

I clicked through to your profile but there's no obvious way to contact you.

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

#90

Post by crazygringo »

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…

It's just like taking a "shot in the dark" with beers.

Beers have all sorts of different flavors, olive oils too, and honestly, you're really going to have no idea until you try them. Price doesn't mean anything, you just have to see what you personally like, and different olive oils "work" for different kinds of dishes. You want a pepperier one with one thing, and a fruitier one with another.

There's no way to inform yourself except by taste-testing them. When I move to a new city, I'll buy several bottles of olive oil from whatever shop, none too expensive, and will usually discover I really love one or two of them, and reserve them for salads/finishing/etc. The rest, I'll use for frying/etc. where the flavor matters much less, and then buy cheap Bertoli for frying/etc. once those others are gone.

So you do have to be "serious" about oil if you want to. But if you don't want to, then that's fine! Just buy the cheap stuff, obviously.

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