Oyl

How to buy the best olive oil

I watched all forty minutes so you don’t need to. The essence:

“Extra virgin” is equal to (first) cold pressed, and this is what you want.

Don’t buy anything bottled in plastic. Dark glass is the best. Personally I found my current oil in a metal container, which is not discussed as an option here. So if you have any clue about that, please share.

Check the label to make sure that the amount of trans fat in your oil = 0% … any other number means that it’s been adulterated, probably with an oil other than olive.

Look for an oil that says where it was “made in” or “produced in”. The opposite is “imported from”, which ends up meaning nothing. If an oil says “imported from Italy”, it might have been grown and produced anywhere.

For similar origin reasons, the best European oils will have a certification called DOP. There’s another cert called IGP which isn’t quite as good, but better than nothing. If the oil isn’t European, you should at least see an address for the producer, preferably a phone number too, and/or a website. Some of the fanciest oils feature a code you can scan with a phone to learn more about where it was grown and produced.

Speaking of certs, I would only buy organic oils personally, though the maker of the video doesn’t seem to be bothered either way.

The bottle should list the harvest date for the olives. A “best by” date doesn’t help, because it will probably be two or three years in the future, and that says nothing about how old it is already by the time you’re buying it. After opening, in any case, use it within months, and the fewer the better.

An ultimately less informative, but much more entertaining video on the same subject can be found here.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *