5 ms·

I shop at Whole Foods which isn't cheap. The one thing I got from watching this video is. I have NEVER had extra virgin olive oil that looked like that or tast

by hijinks 11y ago

I shop at Whole Foods which isn't cheap. The one thing I got from watching this video is. I have NEVER had extra virgin olive oil that looked like that or tasted any and had that reaction. Have I been really using fake olive oil all this time?

skyyler 11y ago
Yep. Just wait until you taste the real stuff. You can buy it on amazon. It's very much worth the price.
- mistermann 11y ago
  If you're not an expert, how do you know what's on Amazon is the real thing though? Also, related reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zcpt4/til_up_to_75_of_the_extra_virgin_olive_oil_sold/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zcpt4/til_u...
HillRat 11y ago
My advice is to buy Californian olive oil -- it's becoming more expensive as people realize most European EVOO is adulterated, but it's still often cheaper and usually better than European imports. Good olive oils are a little bitter, very grassy and quite distinct; the less flavor they have the more likely they've been diluted with cheap oils, while the taste of table olives is a mark of rancidity. Also, if you haven't had true aged balsamic, get a small bottle sometime and try it on berries or good bread. The stuff you buy in the store is like petroleum waste in comparison.
- bbarn 11y ago
  I agree with what you've said here about taste. However, I would add that the use of extra virgin olive oil is so heavy handed with TV/marketing that people don't realize just how much specific flavor it has - and that it's not an all purpose cooking oil as much as Rachael Ray wants it to be. I actually struggle to find light olive oil in stores, which used to be more of a standard I used for light sauteing, etc. I wonder how much of the dilution is based on the over strong demand for the stuff. and lack of definition of "extra virgin" by the US market? The article mentions it must be from the first press of olives, is this a labeling law in the US?
  - HillRat 11y ago
    If the olive oil is marked as "U.S. Extra Virgin" or "U.S. Virgin," then USDA is randomly sampling the product to determine conformance. However, if the product is just marked as "Extra Virgin," then it hasn't sought USDA certification. Not all U.S. oils are neccessarily USDA certified, either. I use California virgin oils for sautéing, which has worked out pretty well. As you say, the better Californians and European EVOOs are best left as table oils.
- hijinks 11y ago
  Thanks.. I'll give that a try.
  - HillRat 11y ago
    If Berkeley isn't too far, try Amphora Nueva as a source. Once you taste test a few high-quality olive oils the difference is immediately apparent.
- logfromblammo 11y ago
  Around 2006, we started buying Bariani EV olive oil (from California) in our household, for all food applications in which it is desirable to taste the oil. Back then, you couldn't even buy it direct from them, so you had to get it through MadeInCalifornia.net . In a blind (but not double-blind) taste test between it and supermarket-bought "extra virgin" Italian "olive" oil (supposedly adulterated with hazelnut oil), there was absolutely no contest. The difference was glaringly obvious. You could detect the difference just from the odor wafting through the air as I put the spoons down on the plate. Similar experience with Balsamic vinegar. The supermarket imitation balsamic vinegar, compared to multiple-barrel-aged balsamic-style vinegar, or even the genuine Balsamic vinegar from Modena, is very different. Same deal for regular feed-trough butter vs. pasture-fed butter. The "real" thing, whatever it is, is usually 2x-4x as expensive as the industrial-scale stuff, though. So it's usually worthwhile to get both, and save the expensive stuff for when quality matters most. It's very hard to do a fair blind taste test when the testers know without a doubt which sample is which, even when actually blindfolded--makes it impossible to remove prejudicial biases such as "more expensive equals tastes better" or "traditional process equals tastes better" or "nostalgic appeal equals tastes better".
  - maxerickson 11y ago
    What are you saying that industrial dairy feeds? I'm under the impression that they feed corn, but also lots of hay (a relative leases some land to a small to medium sized dairy operation, the dairy planted hay there). The biggest difference between hay and pasture is that the hay is easier to truck in.
    - msandford 11y ago
      Right, but hay isn't fresh grass from the field. Grass fed beef has a distinctly gamey-er taste than corn fed, I've found. At least if the grass fed beef I've bought is actually grass fed.
      - logfromblammo 11y ago
        Furthermore, pastures contain plants other than grasses that cows enjoy eating, which have different nutritional qualities than straight grass hay, alfalfa hay, or silage. There is a practice (MIRG) of rotating ruminant herds through different pastures on a schedule that allows plants in the pasture to reach maturity before being eaten, and this supposedly also has an effect on what plants the herd actually eats. I can't remember if the article that I read about it said that it makes them more picky or less picky, though. On a historic note, early American farmers planted pumpkins for their cows to eat, which made the butter darker, from all the carotene. A lot of herds still get the leftover trash from pumpkin farms after Halloween.

by hijinks 11y ago

skyyler 11y ago

Yep. Just wait until you taste the real stuff. You can buy it on amazon. It's very much worth the price.

mistermann 11y ago
If you're not an expert, how do you know what's on Amazon is the real thing though? Also, related reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zcpt4/til_up_to_75_of_the_extra_virgin_olive_oil_sold/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zcpt4/til_u...

HillRat 11y ago

My advice is to buy Californian olive oil -- it's becoming more expensive as people realize most European EVOO is adulterated, but it's still often cheaper and usually better than European imports. Good olive oils are a little bitter, very grassy and quite distinct; the less flavor they have the more likely they've been diluted with cheap oils, while the taste of table olives is a mark of rancidity. Also, if you haven't had true aged balsamic, get a small bottle sometime and try it on berries or good bread. The stuff you buy in the store is like petroleum waste in comparison.

bbarn 11y ago
I agree with what you've said here about taste. However, I would add that the use of extra virgin olive oil is so heavy handed with TV/marketing that people don't realize just how much specific flavor it has - and that it's not an all purpose cooking oil as much as Rachael Ray wants it to be. I actually struggle to find light olive oil in stores, which used to be more of a standard I used for light sauteing, etc. I wonder how much of the dilution is based on the over strong demand for the stuff. and lack of definition of "extra virgin" by the US market? The article mentions it must be from the first press of olives, is this a labeling law in the US?
- HillRat 11y ago
  If the olive oil is marked as "U.S. Extra Virgin" or "U.S. Virgin," then USDA is randomly sampling the product to determine conformance. However, if the product is just marked as "Extra Virgin," then it hasn't sought USDA certification. Not all U.S. oils are neccessarily USDA certified, either. I use California virgin oils for sautéing, which has worked out pretty well. As you say, the better Californians and European EVOOs are best left as table oils.
hijinks 11y ago
Thanks.. I'll give that a try.
- HillRat 11y ago
  If Berkeley isn't too far, try Amphora Nueva as a source. Once you taste test a few high-quality olive oils the difference is immediately apparent.
logfromblammo 11y ago
Around 2006, we started buying Bariani EV olive oil (from California) in our household, for all food applications in which it is desirable to taste the oil. Back then, you couldn't even buy it direct from them, so you had to get it through MadeInCalifornia.net . In a blind (but not double-blind) taste test between it and supermarket-bought "extra virgin" Italian "olive" oil (supposedly adulterated with hazelnut oil), there was absolutely no contest. The difference was glaringly obvious. You could detect the difference just from the odor wafting through the air as I put the spoons down on the plate. Similar experience with Balsamic vinegar. The supermarket imitation balsamic vinegar, compared to multiple-barrel-aged balsamic-style vinegar, or even the genuine Balsamic vinegar from Modena, is very different. Same deal for regular feed-trough butter vs. pasture-fed butter. The "real" thing, whatever it is, is usually 2x-4x as expensive as the industrial-scale stuff, though. So it's usually worthwhile to get both, and save the expensive stuff for when quality matters most. It's very hard to do a fair blind taste test when the testers know without a doubt which sample is which, even when actually blindfolded--makes it impossible to remove prejudicial biases such as "more expensive equals tastes better" or "traditional process equals tastes better" or "nostalgic appeal equals tastes better".
- maxerickson 11y ago
  What are you saying that industrial dairy feeds? I'm under the impression that they feed corn, but also lots of hay (a relative leases some land to a small to medium sized dairy operation, the dairy planted hay there). The biggest difference between hay and pasture is that the hay is easier to truck in.
  - msandford 11y ago
    Right, but hay isn't fresh grass from the field. Grass fed beef has a distinctly gamey-er taste than corn fed, I've found. At least if the grass fed beef I've bought is actually grass fed.
    - logfromblammo 11y ago
      Furthermore, pastures contain plants other than grasses that cows enjoy eating, which have different nutritional qualities than straight grass hay, alfalfa hay, or silage. There is a practice (MIRG) of rotating ruminant herds through different pastures on a schedule that allows plants in the pasture to reach maturity before being eaten, and this supposedly also has an effect on what plants the herd actually eats. I can't remember if the article that I read about it said that it makes them more picky or less picky, though. On a historic note, early American farmers planted pumpkins for their cows to eat, which made the butter darker, from all the carotene. A lot of herds still get the leftover trash from pumpkin farms after Halloween.