The World of Olive Oil Is Murky. Here’s Help for the Home Cook | Hacker News Reader

The World of Olive Oil Is Murky. Here’s Help for the Home Cook

nytimes.com

12 pointsbookofjoe17 comments

> Two, we should be using much more of it, so that it doesn’t languish in our cupboards, but is used up and replaced while it is fresh and vibrant.

Or... we should be buying smaller bottles.

While olive oil is a fascinating subject, there are much better pieces out there[1]. This one I think I could largely summarize as "people making and selling olive oil think you should use a lot of olive oil." News at 10.

1: The seminal NYT piece is supposedly at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/24/opinion/food-... but it won't load for me (on Chrome, anyway). Regardless, a simple search for "olive oil fraud" will return sufficient reading on murkiness, in particular a pair from The New Yorker.

For the average USAn, the answer is to buy Costco Kirkland Signature to get real olive oil.

I’m a Tunisian American, so the use of olive oil is not murky at all to me.

Tunisians use olive oil for everything. It is a breakfast staple (ever tried dipping baguette in olive oil?). We try to cook and fry with it whenever possible, based on the cost and our economic situation.

I would argue that our olive oil is at the very least competitive with that of more “conventional” producers, especially to the average consumer.

If you ever drop by Walmart and want to try some Tunisian extra virgin olive oil, check out Terra Delyssa. It’s reasonably priced and has an organic version as well. I’ve been buying it exclusively for the past year or so and it has been great.

The most disappointing thing learned from that article is that California Olive Ranch is importing oil now.

Dammit.

This move may damage their brand significantly if awareness of olive oil fraud and certification becomes common knowledge among consumers, although for now it is probably still a smart business move.

I recall that brand growing in popularity due to recommendations from food writers. The oil was good, and a group of California olive oil producers was willing to stand behind it, assuring that it was unadulterated, California-grown, extra virgin olive oil.

Now that they have abandoned the California-only sourcing, expanding to have an internationally-sourced "Destinations Series" of blended oils, their brand is less of a standout. Nothing in their information on the Applied Sensory certification used for the "Destinations Series" reassures me that the bottle contains 100% olive oil. Yes, they now have a "Reserve Collection" that's certified by the relatively-new Olive Oil Commission of California, but I have yet to see it in stores since the introduction of the "Destinations Series".

In any case, their brand went from being a mark of assured quality to mark of mixed-and-somewhat-questionable quality. Whereas it used to be enough to see "California Olive Ranch" on the front label, now discerning customers will have to understand the product line naming (don't count on it), or check the back label for a certification seal.

Yeah, I used to buy exclusively California Olive Ranch specifically because I could just grab a bottle of the desired size at the supermarket and trust it. Now I have to read the labels and figure out what exactly I'm getting, just like the other ten brands on the shelf.

I don't doubt that there are probably Olive oils that different, possibly "better", but are there Double Blind tests similar to Wine to see how much people can even discern taste wise from these different brands?

I did some googling and found nothing.

https://youtu.be/t4QwfPVho3U

I think there are health and quality issues unrelated to taste.

IIRC the German magazine Ökotest did a test that included double-blind tasting while I subscribed. It'll be behind the paywall on the magazine's web site. Googling for English terms wouldn't find it even if it were publicly available, since it's in German.

The Italin and Spanish take oil seriously, maybe you can try Italian or Spanish search terms.

Or, instead of googling or reading, why not try tasting yourself? There is much to be said for trying things yourself. I suggest that you buy a bottle of a cheap or middling brand and a bottle of something extraordinary and taste it yourself.

If you're unsure of how to find something extraordinary, try anything sold in half-liter bottles labelled Demeter, or any half-liter bottle that's more expensive than Demeter-labelled olive oil. (Demeter is an association of organic farmers that one might describe as a little kooky... and Demeter farmers' products are generally very good to excellent.)

Tfw you recommend people use tons more olive oil and also recommend and olive oil brand that is $37 for 375ml (or $3 an ounce!)

Yea, jeez. All I could think was submarine article.

is there a non paywall link ?

http://archive.is/cxYxX

It's an ad for $50/lb oil. If paying for NYT bothers you, you are not the target audience.

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