How To Choose Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOO)

Fact: You simply cannot measure the quality of an extra virgin olive oil by its color.  Sure, a rich and bright green/golden colored olive oil might look fresh and delicious but unfortunately it may not be a superior quality olive oil.  Both green and golden yellow oils can be of extra virgin grade.  Here are some valuable tips for those of you know would like to find a good extra virgin olive oil.

Look for harvest or batch date on the back of the label.
Olive oils typically have a shelf life of approximately 2 to 3 years (depending on polyphenol content/storage temperature/exposure to air and light, described further down).   Olive oils that have exceeded their shelf life end up becoming rancid.  You can recognize a rancid olive oil by its aroma or taste.  Rancid olive oils will smell like crayons (stale smell) and will most likely taste like old nuts or clay putty and leave a greasy feel in the mouth.

Scan to see if the oil is recognized as a PDO or PGI

Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) signifies that the olive oil has exceptional properties, characteristics and quality derived from its place of origin as well as from the way of its production.  An oil recognized as a PDO or PGI is almost always authentic and so you can be sure that you are buying the real deal.

Does the oil taste bitter?
Unlike many other food products, an extra virgin olive oil with a peppery, bitter bite at the finish is a highly positive characteristic and signifies that the olive oil is fresh and loaded with antioxidants (particularly polyphenols).  Tasting panel experts use this characteristic of bitterness as one of their criteria when judging olive oil quality.

Does the oil taste fruity?
Like bitterness, olive oil experts also place a great deal of importance on fruitness of an olive oil.  A fruity olive oil is generally preferred by many as it is defined as a fresh olive fruit taste.  Good olive oils can have certain fruity notes such as green apple, apricot, fresh cut grass, bananas, etc.

Is the oil Artisanal?
Chances are that if your extra virgin olive oil is artisanal, then it is a higher quality extra virgin olive oil that hasn’t been blended with other cheap and inferior olive oils.  Also, the producer is typically choosing which olives to press or centrifuge.

Is the oil low in Free Fatty Acids?
Abbreviated as FFA, this acidity ratio is a very important measure for olive oils.  The higher the free fatty acids (FFA) in an olive oil, the greater the chance the oil was extracted carelessly meaning it wasn’t pressed right away or was extracted from damaged, bruised or lower quality olive fruit.  Always try to look for FFA % on the label and choose olive oils with low FFA content.  The International Olive Council (IOC) in Madrid along with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have determined that an “extra virgin” olive oil MUST have a free fatty acid content of 0.8% or less. 

*As a side note, Greek olive oils generally have very low free fatty acid %.  For this fact, it is no wonder Greece produces the largest quantities of "extra virgin" quality olive oils year after year.

Is the olive oil high in Polyphenol Content?

These are natural antioxidants found in olive oil which give an olive oil its peppery bite.  The more peppery the bite means that an oil is loaded with these antioxidants.  Not only do polyphenols benefit your health (lowering cholesterol, blood pressure and help to sooth burns) they also increase the oil’s shelf life!  Also to note, the more polyphenol content in an olive oil, the lower its smoke point.  In other words, olive oils high in polyphenols should not be used for frying at very high temperatures.

Hopefully this articles helps you choose a good quality extra virgin olive oil.  For those of you who may be interested in an olive oil recommendation from an expert, my olive oil of choice happens to be Eulogia from Sparta, Greece.  It is a blend of 80% Koroneiki and 20% Alenolia olives, just the perfect balance of bitter, fruity, fresh and a spicy kick at the finish.  Love it!

 

It's That Exciting Time of the Year For Olive Oils!

It's Show Time in Los Angeles!!!

Northern Hemisphere extra virgin olive oils have been harvested and are ready for the annual competition next week held in Los Angeles, California! Judging for the 2012 Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition will be held from March 27-29 and the winners will be posted on the site shortly thereafter. 

Note that Southern Hemisphere extra virgin olive oils will be judged in July, following their later harvest season!

Olive Oil Grades Revealed

“Extra Virgin” olive oil is the most desirable olive oil in the world and accounts for less than 10% of oil produced in most countries.  Free acidity of the oil, which is expressed in oleic acid, must be less than 0.8 grams per 100 grams (0.8%) and have no taste and aroma defects.  

“Virgin” olive oil is defined as having a free acidity content of less than 2.0%.  This quality oil is one notch lower than that of extra virgin.

The following olive oil grades fall well beneath the “virgin olive oil” category.

Pomace Oil

Pomace oil is the most inferior olive oil on the market.   This type of oil is made from the remaining pulp, flesh and pits of olives, after they have been pressed.  To help extract more oil from what is left over after the first press, the contents must be mixed with industrial solvents.  This technique is used in the production of oils such as sunflower seed, canola and corn.

Pure Olive Oil

Words can be very deceiving, especially in the marketing of food! 

Pure olive oil (a term becoming more obsolete these days) is a chemically altered olive oil that was initially obtained from inferior quality oil that is almost always too acidic after the extraction phase.  Lower quality (and sometimes defective) olive oils are generally not discarded but rather refined for purposes of human consumption. 

In olive oil, the term “refined” means that the oil must undergo a chemical change using heat, which alters the olive oil’s overall state.  Unfortunately, after the refining process, olive oils are stripped of most of their antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and health benefits.  Refined oils generally lack taste, odor and color.

Olive Oil

Olive oil refers to a blend of both refined olive oil and virgin olive oil.  Producers of this caliber of oil will create their blend using more or less virgin oil to achieve various tastes at various price ranges.  In the U.S., olives oils labeled as “Light” or “Extra Light” fall in this bucket and are typically mixed with a large amount of refined oil.

Massive Olive Oil Producers Are Flooding the U.S. Market!

Have you ever strolled down the oil aisle at your local supermarket and wondered why there is such a large price disparity from one extra virgin olive oil to another?  You may have noticed that the more affordable imported extra virgin olive oils sold by Colavita, Bertolli, Filippo Berio, etc.  As a skeptic, I've always questioned things when they seem "too good to be true".  I'm a New Yorker and so this may be a big part of the reason why I think this way. 

Could an oil claiming to be "extra virgin" really be this cheap? 

After doing some research as well as producing my own oil in Greece, I've come to the conclusion that making and importing authentic and delicious olive oil is certainly very costly to do.  Unfortunately, there is no regulatory body in the United States that enforces standards when selling extra virgin olive oil to consumers.  This creates a breeding ground for fraudsters to take advantage of the U.S. market and in turn discourages authentic private label olive oil producers and worse yet, forces them out of business! 

As mentioned in a prior blog post I had written, roughly 75% of imported extra virgin olive oils failed to meet International Olive Council (IOC) and USDA standards tests!  This means that they failed at least one of the requirements that currently deem an olive oil "extra virgin" such as having defective flavors such as rancidity and mustiness or have been adulterated with cheaper and inferior oils or were produced from poor quality olives that may have been overripe, bruised, damaged and/or stored improperly. 

UC Davis and the Australian Oils Research Laboratory recently conducted a study on this very topic and found that "69% of imported olive oil samples and 10% of California olive oil samples labeled as extra virgin olive oil failed to meet the IOC/USDA sensory (organoleptic) standards for extra virgin olive oil." UC Davis Olive Center, July 2010 

Fortunately we can help put an end to this "legal" consumer fraud that is happening right under our noses every single day.  In order for us to make a difference and ensure that we are getting the best olive oil our Earth has to offer, please support the authentic family owned growers/producers!  By educating ourselves further and even paying just a little more we can be rest assured that what we are buying the real deal.

For more information on this topic, which in my opinion is unknown to many of us, I highly recommend you pick up "Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil" by Tom Mueller.  It's a very informative book (also an easy read) that sheds alot of  light on the olive oil industry and how it came to be over the years.