Extra Virgin Suicide

[alden]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014 ... pe=article

This type of falsification (fraud) is omnipresent today sadly. I know it costs 6 euros a litre to produce real olive oil. If you see products that cost anything less that that you can pretty much know it is fake. A real olive oil should cost at least 20 euros a litre as a minimum given its cost of production, bottling, shipping etc. But the sales price is no gauge of authenticity, as the fake stuff is often presented in expensive bottles at staggering prices.

"F" for Fake.....It even enters into the discussion of many products we use everyday and even that of fabrics. You, as a consumer, have to be educated enough to know the fake from the real. It isn't always practical to acquire this level of knowledge. But the implied social contract and trust consumers once counted on is long gone. Its a fake world with very fake values.

Buyer beware!

Cheers

[levantine]

Italian olive oil is the Loro Piana of olive oils: more brand than essence

I don't find it has any advantage compared to other Mediterranean olive oils--especially top Spanish and Greek olive oils.

Greek olive oil is the real deal. I would advise fellow members to try it.

Finally the economic crisis has forced us Greeks to return to the real sector and quite a few producer olive oils are making their appearance in various metropolis of the world.

[levantine]

Of course Michael is absolutely right about the 6 dollar olive oil.

I can tell you that as a producer.

[alden]

I can tell you that as a producer.

Well wonders never cease. I did not know that! Another member of the oil fraternity! We need to exchange some bottles.

As the NY Times piece indicates, a good deal of the fake production of Xtra Virgin comes from families who have been in the counterfeit trade and many other illegal trades for a long time. These families still control major markets and imports to key markets.

Real olive oil is a costly thing to make. You have to have the right cultivars of olives, trees properly pruned, fertilized and maintained through costly hand work. And then you have to harvest the olives at the right time and press them in the traditional way. Its not that complicated expect that its expensive to do right and cheap to do wrong....as in all things.

There is great olive oil all over the Med basin, and there is fake olive oil from all over the Med basin as well.

The blog mentioned in the piece is interesting.

http://www.truthinoliveoil.com/blog

Buyer Beware.

Cheers

[mimile]

I have my own olive field and trees and we also produce, just like you Michael, our home made olive oil even the soap. I owe to olive oil my education. It was paid with the olive oil my parents sold. Today there is much competition. They are not able to sell their productions as the liter costs indeed more than 7 dollars to produce.

[hectorm]

The choices of EVOO available are overwhelming. My wife and I have been using this guide (see link below) as a reference for identifying the OO brands and mills which may be worthwhile. The ranking is based on more than a dozen international annual competitions and although most of the competitions take place in Italy, the majority of the prized OO has been originating in Spain (which I hope may be an indication of honesty).
The prizes of the top brands are in the 38-80 dollar range per liter. Might seem expensive, but life is too short to cook with bad olive oil.
http://www.worldsbestoliveoils.org/worl ... -oils.html

[Aristide]

The choices of EVOO available are overwhelming. My wife and I have been using this guide (see link below) as a reference for identifying the OO brands and mills which may be worthwhile. The ranking is based on more than a dozen international annual competitions and although most of the competitions take place in Italy, the majority of the prized OO has been originating in Spain (which I hope may be an indication of honesty).
The prizes of the top brands are in the 38-80 dollar range per liter. Might seem expensive, but life is too short to cook with bad olive oil.
http://www.worldsbestoliveoils.org/worl ... -oils.html

Very true, but good God man, the top brands are not cooking oils! Also, I treat "world's best olive oil" like I treat "world's best wine"....with more than a bit of suspicion.

[Melcombe]

Given time and opportunity, I could develop some serious enthusiasm for olive oil. As it is, I tend to stick to my supermarkets own brand EVOO, to my taste it's very good at a sensible price (+/- 10 Eur / 0.5L).

I do remember that if you wanted olive oil in the UK before about 1985, you could only really find it in small bottles in chemists' shops where it was sold for softening earwax. Had you suggested that you wanted to add it to your salad, you might have risked being carted off in a straightjacket. Times have changed.

Another source of excellent oil is Australia. Not much sold in the EU, but worth a try.

[C.Lee]

... Its a fake world with very fake values...

Yes, and fake (people for) customers too. So many in fact that it's a bonafide market segment.

... A real olive oil should cost at least 20 euros a litre as a minimum given its cost of production, bottling, shipping etc. But the sales price is no gauge of authenticity, as the fake stuff is often presented in expensive bottles at staggering prices...

The decision to look past price was one of the most liberating moments of my life. It gave me the freedom to ask other questions, and enjoy things for what they really are.

[theoldesouth]

So what to look for, Michael? How to discern the quality stuff?

[hectorm]

... the top brands are not cooking oils!

Of course they are. Maybe you shouldn't deep fry with them (or any EVOO), but the top brands have different styles which are great for dressing, mixing, marinading, and many other cooking (as in food preparation) endeavors. Go for it man, life is too short for saving the best just for dipping.

[alden]

The real handmade olive oils are condiments used to add their luscious flavor and olfactive qualities to all food. A very few drops of this precious substance is enough to enliven the flavor of cooked meats, fish, and vegetables. And combined with an equally great wine vinegar, it works wonders on salads. But heating olive oil eliminates all of its olfactive potential and flavor immediately. It becomes a cooking fat like any other. It is excellent as such for frying, but a standard supermarket brand oil is just fine for this purpose. You could make a hot wine toddy out of a Romanee-Conti, but unless you have really unlimited means, you might just use a jug red just as well. So reserve your precious drops of real olive oil, that someone labored hard to bring to its maximum expression, with great respect. It is as precious and costly, if it is real, as a great real wine (another subject.)

As far as learning how to differentiate between oils with a view to selecting the real ones, there are often courses in olive oil tasting offered by such groups as Slowfood. Olive oil tasting is very much like wine tasting. There are specialized glasses used and a technique that can be learned. Once you have tried it a few times, you will quickly be able to see (color), smell and taste the differences. There are specific flavors that indicate how the oil was made, for the good and bad. These flavors are quick reference points that allow you quickly to eliminate certain products from your list.

I mentioned olfactive qualities of great olive oil. One of the specific techniques for tasting olive oil includes keeping the glass covered with a lid so all the aroma is kept within the glass until the moment of tasting. When the lid is lifted and brought up to the nose, there should be literally an explosion of wonderful and strong aromas that will literally permeate your smelling senses with immensely pleasurable sensations.

Try this with your supermarket brands and you will smell nothing. The only reason these oils are green is because artificial colorants have been added to give it color. Otherwise, these fake oils would be colorless and clear. They have no aroma at all, if not a sickly, musty chemical smell.

If you have a good nose and enjoy cooking and real wines, you will find olive oil tasting an extraordinarily fascinating subject.

Have fun!

Cheers

[alden]

Yes, and fake (people for) customers too. So many in fact that it's a bonafide market segment.

Well billions have been spent in marketing to convince a few generations they can get something for nothing, that life is one grand continuous and never ending free lunch. Why spend 10 when you can get a real bargain, on sale for only 3.5! It's the same product after all. IKEA is furniture. Macdonald's is food. Cloth made in UK via China is English cloth. Your handmade suit a hand never touched is a handmade suit. That Berluti shoe made in China in a factory and only boxed in Italy is real luxury! That alcohol based fruit drink made entirely of chemicals and sulfur is Wine after all, dear sir! And all of these are such great bargains. You are so clever to get these great deals. You have outsmarted everyone....and most importantly, you have outclassed yourself!..

Cheers

[Luca]

I think I'm going to print this out and frame it.

I guess the only remedy is to cultivate connoiseurship. Even there, not all sources are similarly valuable. Some style fora/blogs are little more than running advertisments, for instance, like a suave version of those tacky sale channels on TV ("...how much would you pay for this set of knives?!?! Don't answer yet, because you also get...").

[uppercase]

You start losing trust in things after a while, don't you…?
I don't know but I've just seemed to generally have the best results buying French olive oils though I don't hunt for top quality.
And California olive oils are not bad