What's your goto olive oil?

[masraum]

https://www.kosterina.com/blogs/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-olive-oil-fraud

The next time you head to the grocery store for dinner ingredients, you’ll want to be wary of misleading labels—mainly, olive oil brands that claim their blends are “extra-virgin.” It turns out, most of the olive oil varieties at your local supermarket aren’t exactly 100% authentic. Since most of these bottles aren’t cheap and you’re shelling out a good chunk of change for them, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting what you paid for.

By the time most olive oils land on supermarket shelves, they don’t meet the grades for being of the true extra-virgin variety, according to a 2016 report by 60 Minutes. In fact, about 75-80 percent of these so-called extra-virgin olive oils don’t even meet the standards. So what happens between the time it’s processed and shipped to the shelves? Olive oil may lose its extra-virgin status due to improper storage and tampering. When it loses its extra-virgin qualities, the consumer doesn’t get to reap the health benefits of EVOO, including lowering blood pressure, decreasing risk of heart disease or cancer, and weight loss.

Last year, the National Consumers League found that after testing 11 common olive oil products, six failed to meet official olive oil standards. The NCL had surveyed olive oils from common grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, and Giant. To ensure that the authenticity of the experiment, the League chose bottles at the back of lower shelves since those are less likely to be damaged by the sun or lighting.

Olive oil fraud doesn’t take place just in the United States, it’s widespread across Italy and around the world as well, according to research by Forbes and 60 Minutes. Yes, there is such a thing as the “Agromafia,” and these people are profiting from deceiving consumers around the world with fake or low-grade olive oils. In fact, it’s estimated that this deception makes for a $16 million a year profit. When an Italian newspaper tested 20 popular brands in the country, it found that 45% were fake. It’s such a widespread crime that Italian authorities have seized tons of counterfeit oils (about 7,000 tons) in the past year.

One of the most common ways the “Agromafia” tampers with the oil is by taking oils from North Africa and deodorizing it with chemicals, so they can trick customers into thinking it’s the real thing from Italy. Another tampering procedure is taking a real extra-virgin olive oil and diluting it with sunflower or soybean oils. Most consumers wouldn’t be able to tell the difference because the producers disguise the oils so well with drops of chlorophyll and beta-carotene so it looks and smells like true olive oil. It’s especially dangerous for people who may have seed allergies and may not know that the “olive oil” they’re consuming can harm them.

Recently, the U.S. government has seriously looked into olive oil fraud—according to Forbes, last April, Congress has ordered the FDA to test imported oils for authenticity and report back on its findings, with the hope that the FDA will have protocols for labeling olive oils correctly, all on the basis of consumer health and safety. In the meantime, consumers should read bottles carefully and only buy from trusted sources. We’ll have more on how to spot and purchase correctly-labeled extra-virgin olive oil in a future blog post.

[gregpark]

CA produces great olive oil. Funny though, we can't make good eating olives. Forgive me if I've shared this info before but my wife worked at Mezzetta for 17 years. They're national now so you probably know they deal in olives big time. Over the years we became friends with the olive buyer for the company. An Italian guy, Maximiliano. He's stayed at our house and we've hooked up with him in Italy and I've had many conversations with him about olives. He buys all the eating olives in Spain and Portugal. Why don't you buy here in CA? They don't taste right.
Is it the species? The weather? The soil? We don't know, we've tried everything. We imported trees, soil, italian growers, all to no avail.
He says it's a mystery, CA olive oil rivals any produced in Italy but the olives themselves just don't taste quite right.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by gregpark

CA produces great olive oil. Funny though, we can't make good eating olives. Forgive me if I've shared this info before but my wife worked at Mezzetta for 17 years. They're national now so you probably know they deal in olives big time. Over the years we became friends with the olive buyer for the company. An Italian guy, Maximiliano. He's stayed at our house and we've hooked up with him in Italy and I've had many conversations with him about olives. He buys all the eating olives in Spain and Portugal. Why don't you buy here in CA? They don't taste right.
Is it the species? The weather? The soil? We don't know, we've tried everything. We imported trees, soil, italian growers, all to no avail.
He says it's a mystery, CA olive oil rivals any produced in Italy but the olives themselves just don't taste quite right.

Interesting. "imported soil" holy carp!

It's probably a result of the chem-trails from the govt and big foot poop.

[speeder]

I buy the premium bottle at Trader Joe’s. The LA Times did a big comparison and analysis a couple of years ago and it ranked very high. They exposed a couple of brands that were not true EVOO. It is imported from Italy. 🇮🇹

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by gregpark

CA produces great olive oil. Funny though, we can't make good eating olives. Forgive me if I've shared this info before but my wife worked at Mezzetta for 17 years. They're national now so you probably know they deal in olives big time. Over the years we became friends with the olive buyer for the company. An Italian guy, Maximiliano. He's stayed at our house and we've hooked up with him in Italy and I've had many conversations with him about olives. He buys all the eating olives in Spain and Portugal. Why don't you buy here in CA? They don't taste right.
Is it the species? The weather? The soil? We don't know, we've tried everything. We imported trees, soil, italian growers, all to no avail.
He says it's a mystery, CA olive oil rivals any produced in Italy but the olives themselves just don't taste quite right.

I could see importing soil from Italy for growing premium basil here in the U.S. Wherever it's grown in Italy (I forget where) it's supposed to create a significantly better plant than anywhere else in the world.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I could see importing soil from Italy for growing premium basil here in the U.S. Wherever it's grown in Italy (I forget where) it's supposed to create a significantly better plant than anywhere else in the world.

Unfortunately, you can't import the climate.

[gregpark]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I could see importing soil from Italy for growing premium basil here in the U.S. Wherever it's grown in Italy (I forget where) it's supposed to create a significantly better plant than anywhere else in the world.

They tried that. It didn't work

[gregpark]

Originally Posted by masraum

Unfortunately, you can't import the climate.

That's the thing, the climate in Italy and Spain are so similar to California

[70SATMan]

Originally Posted by gregpark

CA produces great olive oil. Funny though, we can't make good eating olives. Forgive me if I've shared this info before but my wife worked at Mezzetta for 17 years. They're national now so you probably know they deal in olives big time. Over the years we became friends with the olive buyer for the company. An Italian guy, Maximiliano. He's stayed at our house and we've hooked up with him in Italy and I've had many conversations with him about olives. He buys all the eating olives in Spain and Portugal. Why don't you buy here in CA? They don't taste right.
Is it the species? The weather? The soil? We don't know, we've tried everything. We imported trees, soil, italian growers, all to no avail.
He says it's a mystery, CA olive oil rivals any produced in Italy but the olives themselves just don't taste quite right.

Can agree with this^^

We’ve been getting our olive oil locally for the last 10 yrs. Love trying the different flavors.

https://trueoliveconnection.com/

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by gregpark

They tried that. It didn't work

Originally Posted by gregpark

That's the thing, the climate in Italy and Spain are so similar to California

My sense is you would need a sensor(s) embedded in an Italian field of basil that would feed data to an AI climate-controlled greenhouse in CA (or anywhere) to replicate the ground level atmosphere. You might need several months if not a year's worth of Italian data to identify any kind of specific minerality or other "hard" substances in the air to replicate the climate 100%. After that it's just devising a system that can introduce those elements into air properly.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I had a bad experience with CA olive oil years ago, just found the purchase email. It was Frantoio Grove. Researching new oils, it was lauded online and had won many awards. The bottle I got tasted like grass, and not even fresh cut nice grass, it was sour. I called the company, the owner picked up and he would have nothing of it, my description was spot on how it should taste he said, noting it had won a lot of awards. So I sent him the bottle just in case, never heard back.

[Bill Douglas]

New Zealand makes a whole of of olive oils. Why... Italy, Greece and Spain do a perfectly good job of it. Plus the NZ ones are too flavoured, too peppery.

The one I get is Iliada brand and the olives are Koroneiki variety. I buy it from the local Greek shop and I assume it's the real deal as the Greeks wouldn't buy it if it was not completely genuine.

[zakthor]

We were loving 5liter cans of atlas from morocco. Price kept going up our last can was $65 and now its $107. Its good but its not $20/liter good.

We recently got some arbequena at costco and its ok but not great.

We got spoiled travelling in spain theres great cheap olive oil everywhere. Sort of at the point where well just go without when we run out of the stuff we carried home.

Edit: lots of opinions how olive oil should taste. I like mine buttery and grassy and with no acid, no burn. I like the stuff thats pressed after the pits are pulled. To each his own.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by zakthor

We were loving 5liter cans of atlas from morocco. Price kept going up our last can was $65 and now its $107. Its good but its not $20/liter good.

is this it?

ATLAS Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Metal Tin of 101,44 OZ (3L) - Moroccan and Polyphenol Rich - Carbon Neutral - Low Acidity

[wswartzwel]

[gregpark]

Avocado oil is good healthy oil too and has advantages of a high smoke point and neutral taste

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by Shaun @ Tru6

I just went to order another can of Partanna EVOO on Amazon. 101 ounces in 2023 was $50. Today it's $69. I have tried many others but enjoyed Partanna as an all around great oil, whether dressing or cooking with it, or an occasional spoonful.

What do you like?

A little off topic but an old Italian guy I worked with would take his empty Partanna cans, cut them in half and roll down the sharp edges and use them as little pots to grow his herbs.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

I had some Thai basil left over from pho 2 weeks ago and will be planting this soon.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Originally Posted by MikeSid

I have consistently used both the Partanna EVOO and the Kirkland Organic EVOO as "daily driver" olive oils for at least the last 8 years. To my taste, both are very good, and I'd be hard pressed (no pun) to tell the difference between the two.

If you like Partanna, you owe it to yourself (and the small producers of the world) to try:

https://zagarellooliveoil.com/

It is family owned and produced in Partanna and, of course, available on Amazon.

Don't overlook Greek Olive Oil either. Some of the oils from Crete are exceptionally pure.

Also, while I dislike the marketing angle and the mass produced ubiquity of the stuff, the Graza oils are actually pretty good.

Thanks for posting this recommendation, I've got a small bottle coming tomorrow. Looking forward to a taste test with my old Partanna.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

On a completely different topic, when I was checking out of Amazon with the oil above, it asked if I wanted to reorder all kinds of things, one being a Lindt chocolate hazelnut 12 pack.

I thought $53 was expensive. March last year it was $32.

These things are wonderful!