Varieties of olive oil

I thought that there was a basic differnce in Olive oil, virgin olive oil, and extra virgin olive oil, but then why do each of these oils have such differences in the prices within each catogory. what i mean is that i thought all extra virgin olive oils are the same, so why the price difference. Is there really a difference between different brands. I think branding is a large reason, but there has to be something more.

Plus, which oil is the best, i thought they were all the same. Any takers???

Minetti or Bertolli for price and taste.

It's hardly unheard of to have different price levels for the "same" product. One word: Quality. Quality of the olives. Quality of the refining process. Quality of the finished product.

Which is the best oil? Why, the most expensive of course.

That is definitely not true. I have bought really expensive stuff that tasted like shit.
Oh, I also buy the cheaper stuff to cook with and save the good stuff listed above for salads and such.

International Olive Oil Council has a nice website and explains the class differences between the different type of olive oils.

That was really informative, thanks.

Welcome to the Forum, Vishalarora!

As soon as you guys quit replying to this, I'm going to move it to the lovely Cooking Forum! It might not get there til later today though.

shit thats not the site I thought it was...thats just technical extractions...did get a lovely aubergine recipe from there ...i had a site that broke oils down by flavours and usage. i'll try to dig it up again.

basically I think if you cook a lot, you should get oils based on their smoke points...so an extra virgin olive oil is great for salads and sautes but might not be suitable for deep frying...someone help me out here?

Thanks, i dont know much about the website, but ill learn fast. thanks for your patience.

How about this link:

http://www.oliveoilsource.com/olive_oil_smoke_point.htm
http://www.oliveoilsource.com/cooking_olive_oil.htm

Lots of people's taste buds are different, you really have to try some out and see which one you personally like.
The distinction between extra virgin, vigin etc. isn't so much to do with the quality, but the production method.
Yes the first, cold pressing should be the best, but sometimes it isn't.
So if you're in a delicatessen which allows you to try (if you are looking to be a bit spendy, Garibaldi wine stores also sell great Italian olive oils), do so, some cafes and restaurants will also sell you the oil that they use too.
One rough guide would be to match the origin of the oil to the style of cooking that you use the most (so Italian oil for Italian dishes, Tuscan olives are harvested early so they are sweeter, Portugese oils are nutty and fruity, French oils lighter, Greek oils taste of almonds, Spanish oils are fruity... so it really depends on what you want to do with them).
Really great cold-pressed oil loses a lost of flavour if you heat it, so a basic second-pressing (i.e. non-virgin) olive oil (I find Bertolli fine) is great for cooking.

Aaaaah. Olive oil.
I was once actually given a small bowl of frozen olive oil as a dessert once in Provence. Very odd, but still, its great stuff.

Price is indeed based primarily on quality. There are two main grades, olive oil, and extra virgin olive oil. Virgin olive oil is actually extra virgin, but with an acidity content of above 1%. Most olive oil you buy actually will contain some extra virgin too, so that there is at least some olive flavour.
Extra virgin is unique in that its made directly from the fresh juice of the olive fruit. They are pressed, and the water and oil separated. If it meets the right quality, its extra virgin, if not its refined and made into standard olive oil.

You don't get "vintage" or aged olive oils really. The best stuff is the youngest and freshest available. Colour is bugger all indication of quality, and the oil can even be cloudy if unfiltered, but unfiltered oil deteriorates quicker, so most bottles stuff is filtered. It can be all shades of yellow and green, and vary alot in taste. Greek and Italian oils tend to be a bit more aggressive than French or Spanish, but some parts of Italy produce much lighter oils, partcularly the North.

You should not really fry stuff with extra virgin, because it has a really low smoke point (low grade olive oil has a higher smoke point, but is still not wonderfully suited to deep frying, although the spanish do it alot). Extra virgin oil has alot of flavour, and will impart that to whatever you are cooking, so I personally don'T use it as an "all purpose" oil around the kitchen. I also find that unless its meant to be one of the principal flavours, extra virgin can sometimes be a bit too powerful in a dressing. The stronger flavoured olive oils in a dressing actually need some powerful salad ingredients, like rocket or watercress.

The Bertoli extra virgin you see everwhere is alright, but does not have a wonderfully strong flavour. try something greek for a bit more oliveness.

Try Phillipo Berio. I like it. They have three types for salads, frying, and cooking- lesser aromatic in that order. I think it's a good brand. I'd recommend not to use the extra virgin for frying and cooking.

i've heard that if you want to fry with olive oil, use plain olive oil and add butter to raise the smoke point. also adds a lovely rich, rounded flavour. also, make sure that you use a medium heat and keep a close eye on what you're frying. i always add the onions first and once they begin to clear or brown (depending on the recipe), add the crushed garlic, as garlic burns easily.

You will simply lower the burn point. Butter breaks down too fast and should only be used for frying on lower temperatures for short periods of time ie. eggs

Adding olive oil to butter raises the smoke point of the butter, not the other way around.

If you want to fry in butter, try using clarified butter (butter that has had the milk solids removed...the solids are the part that burn).

Yep, it does, but sadly nobody in Spain has ever realised this (loads of stuff tastes like burnt garlic in spain).

Nice little trick for oil based pasta sauces, where you want a shitload of garlic, but don't wanna burn it, is to whack the oil into a COLD pan, add the garlic, then step up the heat. By the time the oil is hot, the garlic has warmed through and infused alot of flavour to the oil without burning it.

Every third bottle of "Native Extra" is bad.

Believe it or not, roughly 10% of Extra Virgin Olive Oil are genuine, the rest are fake. Fake meaning, not extra virgin, possibly not even virgin, etc. If you are really interseted, check out Merum Magazine. It is an italian wine magazine that just devoted an ENTIRE double issue to the topic. Andreas März, the owner and publisher of the magazine is Europe's reknown expert if you want to know the truth about the oil you are using. He is biased in that he is pro-quality no matter what the cost, ie, Olive Oils that sell for €20+ for half a liter. Any extra virgin oil that is €10 or less a liter is fake.

Hope that helps.

Tina

Don't know about that Merum magazine, but Stiftung Warentest has also just tested a bunch of olive oils that are available in Germany. They only found 5 good ones, 5 satisfactory ones, 6 just passable ones and 7 problematic ones!

The best oil costs 32,50 per liter, but there's another of just a couple notches down, still in the "good" category that only costs 5,60 per liter.

The link up there at the moment is good, but expect it to disappear in about a month or so behind a "please pay a small fee to view this information".

Before is dissapears:

Before is dissapears:

re: Don't know about that Merum magazine, but Stiftung Warentest has also just tested a bunch of olive oils that are available in Germany. They only found 5 good ones, 5 satisfactory ones, 6 just passable ones and 7 problematic ones!

Yup, know about them. The last test Stiftung Warentest did on Olive Oil, they had one ranking number 3 or 4 at Aldi for less than 10 euros. Merung forced them to retest it, and oops, they had made a mistake, and had to move it down to the "bad" catagory. Reason: Stiftung Warentest does not test whether or not the extra virgin oil is really extra. They test for things like is the oil contaminated, is the taste ok (really only ok. they don't have personnel with a trained pallate for oil.

Just wanted to let you know...

PS, most good oils taste absolutely fine to most people, real extra virgin has tastes of fresh cut grass and is rather bitter. I personally don't like it myself. But it is the REAL deal.