A drop of the amber nectar Print E-mail
Written by Jayne Parker, 2005   

Olive oil has been around since the ancient Greeks. It is one of the secrets of the healthy Mediterranean diet and a must in the kitchen, but there is more to using olive oil than picking the first bottle off the supermarket shelf, says Jayne Parker. 

Saying that olive oil tastes like olives is like saying all wines taste like grape juice. We may know our Burgundy from our Rioja, but do we know our Italian oils from our Spanish?

Olive oil is now widely available. Whereas we used to bring home an exotic-looking bottle or two from our holidays in Italy, Greece, Spain or France, today British supermarkets have dramatically increased the shelf space given over to olive oil and there's a huge variety to choose from.

We have the ancient Greeks to thank for olive oil. They cultivated the trees, produced the first olive oil and through their colonies spread knowledge of such a precious commodity throughout the Mediterranean. It has since become prized by good cooks throughout the world. What was once thought of as something only to be applied externally is now an essential ingredient in the kitchen.

Confusing labels

Unless you're a master of wine or you have a knowledgeable wine merchant nearby, you probably choose your wine according to price and labelling. For many of us the same is true when buying olive oil, except that the information on a bottle of olive oil can be very misleading. Years of clever marketing by the Italians have led us to think they produce the most and the best of the world's olive oil, but this is simply not true. Italy imports more olives than it exports and falls behind Spain and Greece in terms of olive oil production.

Beware of labelling saying "bottled in Italy" - the chances are you are using an oil made from olives grown and harvested in other countries that have been merely pressed and bottled in Italy. It is not a legal requirement to say where the oil itself originates.

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Stall specialising in olives and olive oil in Sanary-sur-Mer, in the Var.
 It's not easy making sense of it all, but here are a few tips to help you through the minefield of olive oil.

Extra virgin, virgin or pure olive oil?

As we in the UK have become more accustomed to cooking with oil, we've come to accept that extra virgin is best. Although it certainly is, we have no idea why. Extra virgin olive oil is the natural juice of the olive, which has been extracted by mechanical (as opposed to heat extraction) means and has not been chemically tampered with or refined.

Acidity is important because the olive is a fruit, but the acidity value must be 0.8 per cent or less: a low acidity level gives a good indication of how the fruit was treated during harvesting.

Although fine for use as a catch-all cooking medium, the lowest grade of oil - "pure olive oil", also known simply as "olive oil" - tastes bland and unappealing when compared with the flavoursome extra virgin estate-bottled oils. Pure oil is also the most likely to have been over-refined or chemically enhanced.

Today modern equipment extracts 90 per cent of the oil in the first press so there is no need for a second press. The days of giant granite millstones crushing the olives to a paste are long gone. Modern machinery runs at controlled temperatures, protecting the integrity of the olive and quality of the resulting oil.

Many bottles still use the words "cold pressed"' or "first pressed"' on the label, but today this terminology is virtually meaningless and should not be used as an indication of quality.

A blend or single variety?

Over 200 varieties of olive go into olive oil production and typically different species will grow on the same estate. The skill is in blending the different varieties to come up with the perfect end result. For example, LeTrebbiane from the Franci Brothers' estate in Tuscany is a blend of four olive varieties. It has won numerous awards in the olive oil industry, despite having a bit of a kick on the aftertaste that is not to everyone's liking. In contrast, the Arbequina olive that is very prevalent in Catalonian Spain is used on its own to produce a lovely, fresh, delicate oil.

 From looking at the label alone you won't know which one you might prefer. Buying from a knowledgeable oil merchant and tasting before you buy wherever possible will take away the guesswork.
Commercial or estate-bottled?

It is the skill and care of the person doing the growing, harvesting and bottling that matters. If you care about your end product and if you nurture your land, it follows that your oil will be superior. Picking the olives by hand, pressing as soon as possible and before oxidisation sets in and caring for trees that are often hundreds of years old from harvest to harvest all go into producing quality olive oil.

Take the Pianogrillo estate as an example. The estate, based in the Chiaramonte Gulfi region of eastern Sicily, has been producing olive oil for centuries. The Piccione family who run the estate start harvesting very early in October and we receive the current harvest by the end of the month, fresh and with an acidity value of virtually nil. Their oil has won accolades, finishing in the top six out of 4,000 products entered into the guild of Fine Food's annual Great Taste Awards.

There is no comparing Pianogrillo with commercial widely available olive oil whose true origin is often unknown, let alone the name of the person responsible for its production, and this is reflected in the price. You should expect to pay upwards of £11 for 500ml of this liquid gold.

Appearance and taste

Much is made of the colour of olive oil, from light gold to deep green, but it's not an indication of quality or taste, offering only aesthetic value. Professional olive oil tasters use small goblet-shaped blue glasses to ensure judging is on taste alone and not colour.

Taste is something very personal. Assuming your oil has a healthy balance between aroma, taste and aftertaste, it's all down to your own taste buds. Think about what you are cooking: a hearty Tuscan oil may overshadow delicate dishes but would be perfect with meats and game while a lighter oil from, say, Liguria, Italy may be perfect drizzled over chicken and seafood. Remember to taste your oil before you cook with it - after all, it is a flavoured ingredient.

In the lead-up to Christmas there will be an abundance of pretty bottles, filled with olive oil and a concoction of ingredients such as juniper berries and peppercorns - anything to entice the buyer. And next year they will probably still be sitting on the kitchen windowsill, looking pretty with the sun shining through. But would you cook with them? These sorts of oils give real infused extra virgin olive oil a bad name.

Look instead for one simple added ingredient such as basil from Provence or porcini mushrooms from Spain. Read the label and make sure you are buying a real infusion of flavours and not just the essence of flavour added, and taste the difference. Bring authentic Mediterranean flavours to your cooking with a drizzle of oregano and basil oil to finish a multitude of dishes.

This makes a great gift for the foodie that won't be sitting on the windowsill next year but which might just last longer than a bottle of wine.

Storing

The Italians say drink olive oil young, wine old, but assuming you keep your single estate for special occasions, make sure you store it away from direct light and heat sources. Not unlike corked wine, you will soon know from the aroma if your oil has turned rancid through over-exposure to air.

Extra virgin olive oil has numerous health benefits, so try substituting one ounce of hard fat in baking for one tablespoon of olive oil for a healthy alternative.
 
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