While the high end market in the USA has increased, we still consume much less than our European friends. I never buy the high-priced stuff. I like the taste of EVOO from Spain and especially Greece, both of which by the way are substantially produced by Italian-owned companies. What are your preferences when it comes to EVOO?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/dining/best-olive-oil.html
We love olive oil and dump it on everything but chocolate! We use a couple different varieties of California brand. Went with them because they were the only brand that showed harvest date being sold in our grocery store at the time. We use one type for cooking and DH likes a mellower one for salads. I’d say DH and I go through six liters a year each for sure, probably more, compared to the 30 they mention some Europeans do.
Very informative article. I love olive oil and use a lot of it - earlier this month I bought a “chef size” California Olive Ranch extra virgin oil that is nearly gone and I didn’t cook at home for at least 10 days. It’s very fruity, which I like. Harvest date is 2017-2018. Right now I am experimenting with olive oil cakes. On vacation I had a dessert with a polenta cake as the base and I’d love to recreate it. I occasionally use coconut or avocado oils for cooking and nut oils for salad dressing, but olive is definitely my go to.
I can’t read the article but I cook exclusively with olive oil. Usually Italian. I have multiple kinds in my pantry - stuff for cooking with, stuff for salad dressings, and for drizzling.
I usually use the same bottle for cooking and for salads. I do find some brands a bit heavy for salads so maybe I should use different EVOOs.
Lots of speciality stores will do olive oil sampling. It’s crazy the differences when you taste side by side.
Much – most? – of olive oil that comes from Italy is counterfeit. I only buy California olive oil as a result. Here’s one link that says 80% is fake:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/amp/
I wouldn’t assume that US supplies are free of fraud though.
Does counterfeit olive oil mean the oil is from some other material and NOT olive? Does it mean that it is from a different country? Does it mean contaminated? Just don’t have any understanding on what counterfeit food is.
Per the article,
Read stories and watched TV news reports about fraud in the EVOO business a few years ago, which is why I tend to avoid fancy labels and high prices. Some of the best tasting EVOO I’ve had was an obscure and inexpensive brand from Portugal. My local latino market only carried it briefly.
Love olive oil! I only get extra virgin and am careful about what kind because, believe it or not, there’s a lot of olive oil fraud out there. I like California Olive Ranch because they’re have certifications of authenticity. I’ve heard Australia is very high quality, but I don’t think I’ve ever come across any in a store. I rarely use it for cooking (coconut or avocado for that) but love it drizzled on a million different things, for dipping bread, and in salads. We go through one decent sized container per month.
DH once was gifted a container of lovely EVOO from the groves of a client in Italy. Nothing commercial has ever come up to that standard, alas.
+1 to California Olive Ranch
There’s a local company that sells a lemon infused EVOO that I love.
I use a fair amount of olive oil but I love butter as well. Just depends on what I’m making.
As much as I enjoy olive oil, and consume it more than other oils, I think we are fooling ourselves about it. An extra dollop of oil in our recipes for health reasons, right? But there is very little nutritional value in olive oil, and oils are some of the most calorie dense foods that exist. I now use it sparingly, deciding not to add hundreds of calories to every dish, for a small increase in flavor.
Funny that what we got from the Mediterranean Diet was olive oil and red wine…not vegetables, fruits and whole grains. I love olive oil and red wine, though, unfortunately. Those arteries are going to be cleansed by olive oil and red wine.?
There is nothing like a glass of good red wine enjoyed with some bread dipped in salted, peppered, herb-infused EVOO. Is it dinner time yet? Dang. It is past dinner. We got fantastic olive oil at some wineries in Napa/Sonoma after tasting it. I don’t use it for grilling or cooking. Avocado oil is much better for high temps.
One of the things that strikes me about Italy every time I am there is that there is no spare patch of land without an olive tree or a grape vine on it.
We have dear friends who make their own EVOO from the ancient olive trees on their Tuscany property (quick moment to sigh…). They keep us fully supplied with this ridiculously delicious oil, and they keep us guessing every year with different infusions. Where they live, pretty much everyone bottles their own olive oil. Similar to people in the US having a basil plant in the back yard.
Their main business is wine, but they have shared their perceptions of the olive oil world in Italy. Let me emphasize that the Italians are dead serious about quality control and branding of their food products. I think if you incorrectly named Parma ham while dining in a restaurant someone would bolt out of the kitchen and knock the ham out of your hands. Eating is not a spectator sport. Go big or go home.
My friends tell me that despite being blanketed by olive groves, Italy produces nowhere near the olives need to satisfy their OWN demand for olive oil. But, they are quite good at pressing and infusing olive oil, and so they import vast amounts of olives from nearby countries. This has been true for decades.
Even my blunted Irish taste buds can easily tell the difference between olive oil mixed with non-olive oil, but I cannot distinguish between oils made with Italian Vs. Turkish olives (I have been tested). The trick is in the conditions under which it is pressed and bottled, they tell me.
@cypresspat Our last trip to Italy was in November which coincided with both truffle season and the first pressing of the olives. Yum.
I’ve witnessed what you have regarding it being a backyard (and front yard!), family thing for many Italians. Unfortunately, the harvests in 2017 and 2018 have been very poor and there is worry that climate change is a big contributor to that.
https://fortune.com/2019/02/14/italy-olive-oil-climate-change/
[QUOTE=""]
fooling ourselves about it<<<<<<
[/QUOTE]
Too right, whatever else it is, it is a processed oil. That was never a thing available in mass qualities before food was industrialized.
Depends on how one defines “processed”. Most dietary experts don’t consider olive oil “processed” or refined when it is made from a traditional, cold-pressed process.