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Should EVOO taste like olives?

Derek J

By Derek J
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Derek J

Derek J

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I've been trying to work some more veggies into my diet and started making salads this week. I've been trying homemade vinegarettes (hope I spelled that right) and have been trying to find a decent extra-virgin olive oil. The stuff I found at my friendly neighborhood grocery store was pretty awful, so I went to the specialty kitchen store at the mall and picked up a slightly more expensive brand that they stock. It was much better than what I got at the supermarket (my salads no longer smelled like feet), but the taste was surprising. It tasted like olives. I've never noticed an olive flavor with EVOO before. Is that normal for a decent EVOO?

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

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The best EVOO that I've had I discovered during a trip to southern Spain , it had a very pleasant fruity olivey flavor, no hint of burning bitter harshness that some olive oil has.

Nothing I've tried here at home, even those a bit olivey flavored, at any price or from any source, has come close.

~Martin

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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huiray

huiray

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Some very good olive oils taste only faintly of olives, I find - at least for my taste. Two that I really like are Maussanes-les-Alpilles and Nicholas Alziari, both French. The latter one was better some years back and may contain blended oils but is still very nice, quite flowery and fruity. Both have an olive-like taste but it is not a dominant taste, it's partly in the background, not "harsh". Some Californian first-press olive oils are quite nice. To an extent I think it depends on one's taste. I don't like olive oils that have a very pronounced olive taste especially those that are assertive to the extent it becomes harsh and astringent (to me). But yes, good EVOO should have at least a slight olive-y taste but should be balanced. Some are fruity/flowery, as I mentioned above; some are peppery-like, some have a olive-y/grassy undertone, etc.

ps. It's 'vinaigrette'.

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rotuts

rotuts

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trader joes if there is one near you has a selection of EVOO. they are all 'good' and probably 90 % + of them are actuall EVOO

lots of EVOO is not what it says on the bottle, esp from Italy.

consider:

http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Virginity-Sublime-Scandalous-World/dp/0393070212/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357822221&sr=1-1&keywords=extra+virginity

and study the best way to keep it.

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naguere

naguere

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The best EVOO that I've had I discovered during a trip to southern Spain , it had a very pleasant fruity olivey flavor, no hint of burning bitter harshness that some olive oil has.

Nothing I've tried here at home, even those a bit olivey flavored, at any price or from any source, has come close.

~Martin

I buy Spanish olive oil off of Amazon in the UK, it comes post free and in 2Ltr plastic bottles., it is perfect. If you go to your Amazon.com and type in 'Carbonell Olive Oil' you will be able to get it as well.:)

Martial.2,500 Years ago:

If pale beans bubble for you in a red earthenware pot, you can often decline the dinners of sumptuous hosts.

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Toliver

Toliver

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...It tasted like olives. I've never noticed an olive flavor with EVOO before. Is that normal for a decent EVOO?

Yes. It's normal for any good EVOO to have that olive flavor. EVOO is supposed to be from the first pressing of olive oil and if it didn't have that olive flavor I would stay away from it/don't buy it. It also should have a different hue (EVOO's tend to look more green) than regular olive oil.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

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The best EVOO that I've had I discovered during a trip to southern Spain , it had a very pleasant fruity olivey flavor, no hint of burning bitter harshness that some olive oil has.

Nothing I've tried here at home, even those a bit olivey flavored, at any price or from any source, has come close.

~Martin

I buy Spanish olive oil off of Amazon in the UK, it comes post free and in 2Ltr plastic bottles., it is perfect. If you go to your Amazon.com and type in 'Carbonell Olive Oil' you will be able to get it as well.:)

Thank you!

~Martin :smile:

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Derek J

Derek J

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...It tasted like olives. I've never noticed an olive flavor with EVOO before. Is that normal for a decent EVOO?

Yes. It's normal for any good EVOO to have that olive flavor. EVOO is supposed to be from the first pressing of olive oil and if it didn't have that olive flavor I would stay away from it/don't buy it. It also should have a different hue (EVOO's tend to look more green) than regular olive oil.

Thanks for this and all of the other replies! When I think of how awful and non-olive-tasting the supermarket options are, I'm pretty annoyed. You'd think they would have at least one decent oil there, but I've tried a bunch of them with consistently mediocre to bad results.

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Derek J

Derek J

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trader joes if there is one near you has a selection of EVOO. they are all 'good' and probably 90 % + of them are actuall EVOO

lots of EVOO is not what it says on the bottle, esp from Italy.

consider:

http://www.amazon.co...extra virginity

and study the best way to keep it.

Sadly, there are no Trader Joe's in my area, nor are there any Whole Foods stores. Just another aspect of life in flyover states.

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HungryC

HungryC

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I feel your pain regarding supermarket olive oil. However, I recently discovered California Olive Ranch, which produces a nice, fruity EVOO in CA. No worries about adulterated oil, no off flavors from god-knows-what, and an affordable product suitable for copious daily use. Check 'em out: http://www.californiaoliveranch.com/

I can purchase CA Olive Ranch's oils at Winn Dixie and Whole Foods, as well as other chain supermarkets around the Gulf Coast. You can buy direct. And if you want a super fruity oil, the unfiltered first pressing from the '12 harvest is still available via the website.

ETA: I never thought about oil's purity or production until I read Extra Virgin: http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Virginity-Sublime-Scandalous-World/dp/0393070212

Edited by HungryC (log)

--Celeste

Bouillie: eating in south Louisiana

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janeer

janeer

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Another factor is that olive flavors dull over time. If you're in a small own with low turnover, the olive oil you're buying could be up to a year or two since it was pressed. Buying online might guarantee you fresher oil.

I'm not buying old oil; I've literally bought right off the press sometimes. And for years I lived in Philly and bought from DiBruno who does a huge turnover and mail-order business.

Jane

Little Compton Mornings

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scubadoo97

scubadoo97

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I feel your pain regarding supermarket olive oil. However, I recently discovered California Olive Ranch, which produces a nice, fruity EVOO in CA. No worries about adulterated oil, no off flavors from god-knows-what, and an affordable product suitable for copious daily use. Check 'em out: http://www.californiaoliveranch.com/

I can purchase CA Olive Ranch's oils at Winn Dixie and Whole Foods, as well as other chain supermarkets around the Gulf Coast. You can buy direct. And if you want a super fruity oil, the unfiltered first pressing from the '12 harvest is still available via the website.

ETA: I never thought about oil's purity or production until I read Extra Virgin: http://www.amazon.com/Extra-Virginity-Sublime-Scandalous-World/dp/0393070212

I love their arbequina. Because arbequina has a small fruit it is easy to harvest mechanically which lowers the cost.

To me it's one of the best evoo for the $ if you like a fruity oil.

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EnriqueB

EnriqueB

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I buy Spanish olive oil off of Amazon in the UK, it comes post free and in 2Ltr plastic bottles., it is perfect. If you go to your Amazon.com and type in 'Carbonell Olive Oil' you will be able to get it as well.:)

Carbonell is one of the biggest brands here in Spain, but I would not consider it specially good, rather all the way round. On the other hand, if there are no better options easily available...

My blog - Dorar no sella los jugos

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