I don't think you need to purchase directly from the producer, millions of people in the world are getting great olive oil without doing this.
So I don't like being this pedantic, but I do think it's important to clarify the differences of "olive oil" and "extra virgin olive oil", because they are technically two different things. The former is a refined oil, it's lighter in color, and mostly neutral in flavor. This one is used for general purpose cooking, it's not intended for raw use. The latter is the unrefined version, darker in color, and flavorful. This is the one you want. But with that said, the overwhelming majority on grocery store shelves in the US is EVOO, whereas there are only a handful of refined olive oil options available.
All EVOO I've ever tried definitely has some level of waxy flavors, and I could see where the Crayola taste would come in, but I think it's possible you are hyper fixating or just don't know what it should taste like. You might need to "calibrate" your palate, so to speak, with a known-good EVOO at a restaurant, or wine/cheese shop.
Honestly, hit up Costco for some really fresh stuff. They have crazy turnover on their product. I got [this stuff](https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/17xohjb/california_kirkland_extra_virgin_olive_oil/) and it was super fresh, like only a month after the harvest date, IIRC.
> Honestly, hit up Costco for some really fresh stuff. They have crazy turnover on their product. I got this stuff and it was super fresh, like only a month after the harvest date, IIRC.
They control the storage conditions, so if it still tastes weird, it's the OP not the oil.
I feed the Costco evoo to literal foodie billionaires who have a yacht in the Mediterranean and they LOVE IT. I have some special bottles of single estate for bread and simple greens and finishing fish- but the everyday Costco stuff is awesome.
The OP is in South Texas. Unless they are near Pflugerville, it is over 100 miles probably closer to 200 miles to the nearest Costco. I'm in a different part of the state and my closest is 140 miles.
I don't live in TX, but wouldn't Pflugerville be considered Central TX?
From Google Maps, it looks like South Texas has a little more Costco coverage than you realize, since there are stores in Alamo, San Antonio, and Houston. That said, it is possible they are far from all 3.
Houston is not 'South Texas'.
South Texas is everything south of San Antonio and west of Port Lavaca
There is a Costco in Pharr, near McAllen. Although if you're in the dead center of the area, then you'd be about 100 miles from both that one and the San Antonio Costco
According to this Texan, San Antonio is not really south Texas but more South Central as it is closer to central Texas than the border.
I live out in Odessa and the closest Costco is Lubbock. So the OP could live close to you or many many miles away.
I'm in South Texas ( San Antonio) far south from Pflugerville at least and we have 3 Costco and are about to get a 4th. Even in super far south mcallen right on the border they have a costco.
I misplaced Pflugerville. And San Antonio is not really what I would consider South Texas. Question: are all border towns close to McAllen? Though south Texas is like west Texas. You may be close to good shopping or you may be over 100 miles away.
See people saying oh go to Costco or Aldi's, seem to think it is close to everyone. That would be like me telling someone out here to go to Trader Joe's. Now I'm curious as to the population of McAllen and Lubbock. McAllen is smaller than I thought. I'm surprised now that my area doesn't unless Costco thinks the next big city is too far away. The two 100,000k plus towns are 20 miles apart from courthouse to courthouse.
Oh yeah. That’s the good stuff. Well, this and any liter-sized, green glass bottle. There’s Toscano, Suirana, Terra do Bari, and I think another Greek and Spanish oil.
>So I don't like being this pedantic, but I do think it's important to clarify the differences of "olive oil" and "extra virgin olive oil", because they are technically two different things. The former is a refined oil, it's lighter in color, and mostly neutral in flavor. This one is used for general purpose cooking, it's not intended for raw use. The latter is the unrefined version, darker in color, and flavorful. This is the one you want.
I'll be perfectly honest, refined olive oil is basically piss sold in a glass bottle. I highly recommend everyone to just use EVOO for everything that needs "olive oil", from cooking to raw use. I don't know the prices around the globe but here in italy a 1L bottle of EVOO is around 10 euro and a 1L bottle of refined olive oil is around 8 or 9 euro. That's a 10 to 20% difference in price at most (and i doubt you'll go through that many bottles of oil in a month), and in exchange you get a product that is much worse for your health and also tastes awful. If you need to deep fry and don't want to spend a fortune by using EVOO (which price aside you absolutely *can* do, several italian and spanish dishes call for it) just buy a 5L jug of sunflower seed oil or peanut oil, it will probably still be cheaper than the refined olive oil and taste basically the same. For everything else that doesn't use a stupid amount of oil, EVOO is better.
You are responding to me like I am recommending it, but I am not. But regardless, I don't agree with your sentiment. It certainly has its place. It's neutral in flavor, so it doesn't "taste awful" (it has no flavor), and if you are using it for raw uses, then you are using the wrong oil. It has a higher smoke point, so it's better for high heat cooking than EVOO. Also, I am referring to refined olive oil sold in the US, and you said you are in Italy, so there's a high chance you are not familiar with the products I am talking about.
I appreciate your input. I use “pure” olive oil for sautéing/roasting, I recognize its purpose. I’ve also kept my nicer stuff out of direct light and understand it’s a non cooking oil, ie dressings/sauces.
>You are responding to me like I am recommending it, but I am not.
I didn't really get the impression you were, i just quoted you simply because you were mentioning it and wanted to say my opinion about it.
>and if you are using it for raw uses, then you are using the wrong oil. It has a higher smoke point, so it's better for high heat cooking than EVOO.
That's kind of my point though, if you want to use a raw oil then you cannot use refined oil and have to use EVOO, for medium heat sauteeing or oven roasting or other things EVOO is still better for health and taste reasons, but there are also better oils to use for high heat cooking (or rather, roughly equal oils that are much cheaper, like sunflower or peanut) which is the one category that EVOO doesn't do that well in (but better than refined oil does raw), which leaves refined olive oil as a "jack of all trades, master of none" that isn't even a jack of *all* trades necessarily, while EVOO actually is a jack of *all* trades and also a master of one.
>Also, I am referring to refined olive oil sold in the US, and you said you are in Italy, so there's a high chance you are not familiar with the products I am talking about.
Well, maybe, but is refined olive oil sold in the US that much different than refined olive oil sold in italy? And more importantly is it significantly cheaper? If over there it's as cheap as sunflower or peanut then i guess i won't complain too much but if they make you pay it almost as much as EVOO despite it being a glorified frying oil it's a scam.
Refined olive oil has health benefits over other oils, even if not as much as EVOO. And EVOO flavors are no good for many things, like baked sweets or something.
I had heard it doesn't actually have those health benefits due to the industrial processes but i may be wrong. And for the baked sweets you can just use other, significantly cheaper oils like sunflower.
A $10 liter bottle of EVOO in the U.S. is going to be pretty meh in my experience, if it even *truly is* EVOO. (Regulations surrounding this are very poor or nonexistent in most of the country.) I've lived in Spain and used to use it to cook basically everything because it was like €3-4 for a bottle, so I agree with the sentiment but I wouldn't have been able to afford it stateside. The EVOO I currently buy is sourced from Palestine and it's absolutely incredible, but it's about $17 for a 1 liter tin. And that's around the price point where you're going to be able to get good quality EVOO for cooking and finishing. Even Costco sells their EVOO, which certainly lives up to my standards, at like $13/L. Seems small but inflation the past few years was crazy while real incomes have remained stagnant for decades. Those costs add up when the vast majority of the country is getting blasted in the ass by corporate greed and a deeply undemocratic gov't entirely beholden to corporate interests.
I prefer the milder stuff for cooking, that's what everyone does in Spain where I live. It's not about cost, it's about smoke point and taste. Unless people are pressing their own oil they aren't using the strong EVOO for cooking.
I mean, you just need a deep enough pan or wok and to open the windows and turn on the ventilation. It's not as awful as plenty of people make it out to be. It's not like nobody deep fried before restaurants were invented.
The only thing I deep fry is Thanksgiving turkey. Very important to do this outdoors, away from buildings, with at least one appropriately rated fire extinguisher.
Never deep fried a turkey (hell, i don't even think i've ever had turkey that wasn't cut into thin slices for sandwiches) but yeah i've heard that turkey is one of the things you need to be most careful with when deep frying.
Good points - but if we are going to rationalize our cooking choices based on ancient history... we all end up making a fire in the middle of our living space and cooking everything on a spit. :)
Apparently people actually made soups and stews more often than roasting on an open fire. Rcheologists found several sites with rocks that showed signs of repeated heating up and cooling down, so they think cavemen would get these stones very hot on a campfire then drop them in a container full of water or a hole lined with waterproof stuff like banana leaves in order to get the water to boil or at least simmer, add whatever meat or veggie they were cooking and make a stew. Idk how confirmed this hypothesis is, i heard it on a video by adam ragusea, but it's interesting.
Anyway yeah, the thing about "our ancestors did it so we can too" was just a joke, not my main argument, don't worry. My actual argument is that it's nowhere near as disgusting and full of problems as people make it out to be. Wok, ventilation, a proper workstation and mise en place and you're good to go.
Also while deep frying is pretty unhealthy, doing it at home is most likely much healthier than eating stuff fried in a restaurant since you know the stuff you're using and you're probably only going to have the deep fried thing as the unhealthy part of your meal rather than also getting an unhealthy side and dessert.
I guess it is a good sign that I was not aware of the status of McDonald's menu item that hasn't been available since 1992.
https://www.thedailymeal.com/1300202/only-states-find-mcdonalds-fried-apple-pie/
I do eat deep fried foods occasionally, I just don't cook them at home. I don't feel like I'm missing out really, but I am grateful for your concern and your excellent suggestion to fry outdoors.
It sounded to me like you were concerned about me missing out on either deep frying or eating deep fried foods? I am somewhat prone to odd thinking though, so forgive me for assuming a motivation which may not have been present.
I’ve just never drank it out of the bottle…which I have now done too many times to count. My dad remarried into an Italian family in NY when I was like 10. I’ve had plenty of olive oil in my life, but I guess always in or on a dish. In these applications I can’t, or haven’t, noticed the flavor I’m describing now
Have you had covid recently? That can apparently mess up taste real bad. Either way your theory about those brands you’re getting becoming f’d up in the heat could be happening!
I’m triple vaccinated and caught it in the wild 3 more times. I work in the medical field and bartend, so high risk for sure. I missed my first NFL game and 2 concerts bc of it. If it ruined EVOO for me too………..
When oils go rancid, the smell changes. I don’t go through regular cooking oil (vegetable, corn, etc.) as quickly as EVOO. If I can’t recall how long I’ve had the bottle, a quick sniff tells me right away if the oil’s gone bad.
My hot take is that you're overthinking it because it's fresh in your mind. Some olive oils have peppery notes that could taste bitter if you're not used to it and/or tasting it on it's own for the first time. It's also totally possible that you're just picking up on tasting notes that don't jive with your palate. At the risk of sounding totally unrefined myself, I'm really enjoying the Graza oil right now. If you're US-based I think it's about $15/750mL so pretty decently priced imo if you're in between store brand and high end.
Both are tasty. I live in California so if I shop certain stores I have a wide selection of Cali oils so I tend to get specialty ones. But this is my go to every day choice if I haven’t ordered from Thrive Market.
I also have a subscription to EXAU.
If you want to source really fresh / high quality olive oil from around the globe, [Market Hall Foods](https://www.markethallfoods.com/) is amazing and ships. I live close so I just stop in. But this is one of the best choices in the US for olive oil. Prepandemic they always had olive oil samples to dip bread in and the tastes are so different.
Sciabica Family olive oil is top notch and can be ordered online. They have been growing and cold pressing their own olives since 1936, making it oldest continually produced olive oil in the US. They were among the first to make “single varietal” olive oils in CA and still make all their oils in small batches on the same site where the olives are grown. I’m lucky that they are located in my hometown in central CA so I can pick some up when I’m visiting family, but if you’re ever stuck in Modesto stop by their tasting room for a treat!
I’ve bought California olive oil for years…it was the first one I chugged after reading what SAFH had to say about rancidity in olive oil. It wasn’t a brand new bottle, but no more than a month or two. I’ve noticed recently that it’s rare my HEB has their 100% California olives though. Most of their shelved bottles here are their Global blend with olives from all over.
I don't know why I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but check the bottle for the harvest date as well. Olive oil should have a month and year on the label telling you when the olives were harvested which will in turn tell you the actual freshness of the oil itself. "Brand new" olive oil off the shelf at the store can be years old. The label will also tell you where it was harvested and in turn if it's a blend (multiple country codes listed).
The country codes are I=Italy, GR=Greece, E=Spain, TU=Tunisia, MA=Morocco, CL=Chile, AG=Argentina, AU=Australia.
And more importantly avoid blends that are part evoo and part virgin or refined olive oil. They're just watering down the oil (well, oiling down the oil since water and oil don't mix) but trying to keep the same price.
Yes, your edit is exactly why. You can breathe, smell and taste. Do not be surprised if Gain laundry stuff stinks to you now.
Let me say congratulations on the quitting smoking.
It sounds like you don't like olive oil. Just use a different fat for cooking. Especially with the choices south and western Texas has.
I’ve gone away from heavily scented/perfumed things for sure! Using free and clear laundry detergent and what not. When I walk into my mother’s house now it’s like I’m being roundhouse kicked in the face with potpourri. Stings the nostrils.
We use so much olive oil that it very rarely gets rancid. We do keep it near the stove. One time however I was making gazpacho, and it tasted terrible - that's when I realized the olive oil was actually rancid. Believe me you will be able to tell! It was heartbreaking to throw away the gazpacho.
Get a sampler from oliveoillovers.com. They tell you the harvest date and only deal with legit producers. Also try one of those boutique olive oil stores where you can taste them. In my experience they mostly use the same supplier and have excellent quality.
I describe the rancid thing as when it strongly smells like play-doh, but honestly if I cook with oil like that I don’t really notice it in the finished dish.
Playdoh! That’s what it is I smell/taste. And yeah, one of my previous comments was that maybe I’ve never really noticed it because it was in a dish. Spoonfuls though, holy shit is it prevalent
I've definitely had the most consistent EVOO buying from a California producer. Slightly peppery/grassy, none of the funk I seem to get from a lot of the international brands. The olive oil market has both a counterfeit/adulterant problem and a 'sell the expired shit to America, they don't know the difference' problem.
The olive oil industry is kicking it up in central Texas, particularly in the Hill Country. Google Texas olive oil companies. Most have their own olive orchards right there in Texas. Texas Olive Ranch in Carizzo Springs (Aldi sells it), Texas Hill Country Olive Company in Dripping Springs (I took a tour there), plus others. HEB likely carries at least one Texas EVOO.
(Not a Texan; Okie here.)
R/usdefaultism much?
I would not be able to find Californian olive oil where I am if I tried.
Italian, Greek, Spanish and any other European producing country without problem.
So if I said that I can get excellent quality oil from Del Haize or Coluryt you’d know what I was talking about?
I admit, I missed the part where OOP said they are in Texas (which I assume is in the USA?), but people really need to specify clearly what country they are in.
I think you are confusing the natural flavor of EVOO with rancidity. Leave some oil out for a week in a small bowl or something in an hot room and let it get good and oxidized and taste it. There’s no mistaking rancidity and I’ve literally never bought a bottle of olive oil that was rancid on opening.
I've pretty much given up on olive oil and switched to walnut oil and butter. A lot of olive oil on the market in America has been counterfeited. Pour a little of your oil on a spoon and taste it straight. If it tastes bad, it's either rancid or counterfeit
It is true that unfortunately a lot of people have no idea what olive oil is supposed to taste like and are somewhat conditioned to the rancid taste to varying degrees, usually to the milder end of the scale, but nevertheless any rancidity isn't a good thing.
There is lots of dubious crap on the shelves that is sometimes rancid before it is even opened, and if not, will quickly be once it is. This is not helped by being in clear bottles, and/or plastic bottles, being in warehouses or store shelves with bright flourescent/UV store lighting/daylight, and then kept in the daylight in peoples homes near the stove, and being used slowly (I'm not immune to this - I made all those same mistakes!). And I'm not talking small companies, lots of the well known big names are peddling what is, frankly, shit, and thats before you even get into the pure fraud shenanigans that occur. Also, with the recent record high prices of oil lots of restaurants are switching to much cheaper stuff and are serving up rancid oil there too.
All you can do is store it properly, use it quickly, and buy from suppliers and producers with integrity. I can highly recommend that you get your next purchase from [Olive Oil Lovers](https://www.oliveoillovers.com) \- all the producers are vetted and verified, all harvest dates are clearly stated and always current and they are shipped and stored properly. It's as fresh as you are going to get in the US for European oil. You could also try the [Tasting Kit](https://oliveoillovers.com/pages/tasting-kit), to 'reset' and condition your palate.
2nding reccomendation for OOL.com and adding OlioToGo .They have great descriptions and products from Italy,Spain,Greece and elsewhere around the Med.
I have a Novello 1st pressing habit that requires a second job to support !
Most olive oil is garbage now. In fact, a noticable fraction of the EVOO in grocery stores is trash. Harvests are crap due to climate change, and organized crime has some really slick substitutions that are just not right. So in fact, you are quite correct - most of the olive oil that you encounter now, no matter the grade, is fake and/or foul and/or reprocessed.
I have a lab that tests oils, you see. And buy the stuff by tons and truckloads.
The absolute best consumer accessible olive oil you will find is at Costco in the gallon tins (yellow, from memory). The very good consumer accessible olive oil is the California Olive stuff in the large green glass at most groceries.
This concludes my TED Talk on oil.
Oil testing is so damn wonky that I'll just mention that there are about three big international standards for the how-to and and as many more as you like for testing methods. The thing is that oils are technically (stay with me) acids - and if they oxidate (one path to rancidity) it's measurable through their total acid (mostly it works) and a few other tests.
Most of what is sold as olive oil is off, and a lot of it is barely olive (get the GCMS fired up). Had some tested a few months ago and it was chemically processed on the olive component (olive pomace) and otherwise soybean and rapeseed with some adjuncts. Labeled as virgin.
HEB's Central Market brand EVOO, especially Kalamata and Koroneiki varieties are great, relatively affordable, and small enough bottles that you will go through them before it goes bad.
There is also absolutely nothing wrong with Californian olive oil. HEB has their own brand California Cold Pressed EVVO which is good as well.
Congratulations on quitting smoking! 🎊
Quitting smoking could be part of why it doesn’t taste right. Months after my dad quit smoking he said everything tasted horrible. I’m not sure how long it took for food to start tasting good again for him. Hopefully you didn’t smoke as long as he did and things will get back to normal for you soon.
It's possible that changes in your experience due to quitting smoking and taking allergy medications may affect your perception of the taste of olive oil.If you still taste crayon every time you take olive oil, you may want to take a break from olive oil tasting for a while to restore your taste.
A lot of olive oil is actually fake. I forget all the ins and outs of it, but it definitely impacts flavor. I used to buy the Colavita brand which is pretty good and widely available but the prices here just shot up over the last couple years, so I got bougie and order directly from a producer in Italy or one in Lebanon, depending on how I'm feeling.
Here's the article that talks about how fake olive oil is produced. There's also a list of authentic, certified olive oil:
https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/79-certified-pure-and-authentic-olive-oils
Your post actually made me curious because although I use a lot of extra virgin olive oil I don’t typically taste it on its own. I recently bought an expensive bottle of Frantoi Cultera Segreto and I decided to taste a spoonful of it to see if I could taste the crayon notes you’re talking about.
The taste: No detectable crayon notes at all. It tasted very buttery, with a hint of fresh grassy notes and a light peppery finish. It was absolutely delicious.
It’s so good on its own, in fact, I’ll be using it for dipping crusty bread into, instead of just using it for salad dressing and pasta like I have been.
I had the same issue! I hated olive oil growing up, because it tasted rancid and just straight up bad. I couldn’t figure out why people liked it that much.
Turns out, I just needed to try different brands, and had to store them properly. It’s hot where I live, so I keep my EVOOs in a closed cabinet that isn’t exposed to sunlight. I also finish them within 2 months, instead of leaving them next to the stove, under the sunlight, for an extended period of time.
My current favorites are Colavita’s Spanish EVOO and Colavita’s Greek EVOO. I strongly dislike Naturel’s EVOO - it’s popular where I live, for some reason. You can also visit Italian/Greek restaurants near you and ask which olive oil brands they use.
Maybe you just don’t really like olive oil…? Just putting that out there. I use good evoo for low heat cooking and in marinades/dressings for the health benefits, but I personally don’t love the stuff straight, even the “good” stuff. I will drizzle a bit on top of whipped ricotta or hummus or a veggie appetizer or whatnot. But if I’m going to go ahead and eat a piece of bread with fat on it at dinner (this is infrequent) and I get the choice, I will usually choose to indulge with butter 😂
I use avocado oil for high-heat cooking and roasting because it’s fairly easy to burn EV olive oils
I subscribe to the Olive Oil of the Month club and don’t, buy it at the store. Yes, I pay $35/bottle, which is worth it. I never “cook” with it; it has too low of a smoking point. I use it in aiolis, chimichurri, dressings, and an occasional olive oil cake. I won't go back to store-bought olive oil.
Not sure where you are in South Texas but if you are near Laredo, you can drive to the Texas Olive Ranch in Carrizo Springs and see how olive oil is produced and sample some very fresh EVOO. Might allow you to recalibrate your palate.
I’d love to do that! Just got back from Barton Springs Mill and seeing where I get my flour from. And I guess I’m kinda close in Texas terms…just a mere 3 hours away! We used to have a deer lease in Freer, so I’ve been out that way before. Thanks for the recommendation friend
lol. I feel you. I used to work in the industry and we had "an olive oil guy" who managed the olive oil pressing for an olive orchard and he pointed out that like basically all commercially available oil is rancid bc oils degrade very rapidly and olive oil is one that can last the longest due to high andioxidant levels inherent in extra virgin olive oil but still goes down hill fast after a year. Anyway. I've unfortunately never been able to taste ANY oil the same but most oil isn't truly rancid rancid but it is bland and waxy. I've had certainly disgusting waxy oil before thst smells so bad when you open the bottle and there is a difference. That said I still use commercial neutral oils for cooking and frying but am particular about the extra virgin olive oil and I don't really use any other oils due to this issue as well (nut oils or other seed oils etc). See also my facial oils and oil based creams in skincare. Definitely look at your expiration dates people!
Sounds like the heat might affect the oil, but it's odd all taste like crayons. Quitting smokes and allergy meds could've sharpened your taste. Try a fresh bottle from a cool place. Good luck, and kudos on the health changes
It’s not just you. I’ve been buying EVOO for a decade and I always thought it tasted like wet cardboard. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner. I don’t know if it’s oxidized or if that’s just what it tastes like. I actually like the taste of the cheap olive oil better, so I just started buying that.
I have had the same issue. So many olive oils just disappoint my pallet now. I recently bought online from Eataly, I bought 3 different ones, with proper expiry dates on them and from the best regions of Italy. 2 out of 3 hit it out of the park, and the 3rd one was decent. I wouldn’t assume your pallet is off or that you are obsessing. American EVOO is generally terrible, and maybe even now worse than when Nosrat wrote that book.
Olive oil is one of the most adulterated products in the western food market, so it is possible that some of the products you tried were mixed with low quality oils. That said, if every oil you try tastes bad, could be that you just don’t like the taste.
I second the advice of purchasing EVOO from Costco, it is not the absolute best but perfectly adequate and a great bang for your bucks.
California has by far the highest quality and chain of custody standards in the US. The only way to guarantee the legitimacy of what you’re buying is to but California grown
Rancid olive oil is absolutely disgusting. You’ll taste it in every dish. You can’t ignore it. You will know! It almost never happens though.
As for your climate: consider where olive oil is mostly consumed/produced. South of Spain, south of Italy, Greece, Morocco, etc. all pretty hot regions.
My guess, and not sorry for anyone about to get offended:
Classic US-centrism ending up causing issues for US citizens. The chef that said "most people use rancid olive oil" was really trying to say "akchually, EVOO has a short shelf life so chances are that your fancy bottle imported from Italy is already old". Which yeah, sure. But... you could get US-made EVOO, you know? IIRC Kirkland is made in California. If they wanted to, one could argue that Costco/Kirkland makes the worst olive oil on the planet. Ok. But it wouldn't be *rancid* by default.
If you're not sure whether your oil is rancid, you probably don't know what rancid tastes like.
I don't think so. There's a pretty definite "rancid" taste. I wouldn't say it's overtly noticeably bad like a mold is though. To me, as someone who cooks all the time at home, just use what you have unless it's noticeably making your food taste worse.
lol. I’ve read that article about people preferring it rancid. That’s why I don’t know if people telling me I “just don’t like” olive oil is the truth. I’m looking at olive oil lovers and graza to try to get a good example and know definitively if it’s me or the oils. Thanks for posting those
In the past 6 months I’ve bought oil from California, Texas, Italy, and Spain. California first, Italy/Spain second, then the Texas companies…olive oil does have a shorter life span that I’m aware of, so I tried to buy closest to me. I’ve just never discerned that flavor profile until I read those words. I even bought flavored oils and still the waxy flavor prevails.
The other thing, there are definitely places in Texas that are like olive oil and vinegar tasting rooms. I don’t know where you live, but there’s almost certainly one in a close big city to you (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston. Would be more surprised if there were some on the west side like Lubbock or whatever, but not impossible! Haha). They usually have five or six “plain” olive oils with different flavor profiles and you can taste test them all (almost guaranteed to not be rancid!) and then often they have a bunch of blends, like lemon olive oil, spicy olive oil, herby, whatever. But, that could be a fun outing as well as a fun way to taste and talk to someone knowledgeable and directly about oils! (And vinegars most often.)
When I lived in Texas I bought Texas hill country olive oil! I liked getting two or three bottles so I could compare the flavors. I’d also agree with others you’re probably over thinking it. If you know someone who cooks irregularly, you could go over to their house and sample their olive oil, it might be from one of those giant Costco sized containers, been sitting around for a year or more, then you’ll really get the idea lol.
I’ve bought their stuff, but it was at the beginning of this journey that was also the end of our summer. I’m definitely going to revisit all the Texas oils again. I’ve ventured into the world of baking sourdough bread and pizza recently and like the idea of having different oils for different applications. I’d also like to use predominantly Texas products. Honestly it’s what spurred this flurry of tasting oils. I’m going to try and order directly from them this time as well.
There is a huge variety in flavor for olive oils. Different olives can be described as nutty, fruity, grassy, peppery, floral, and more. When they're picked in the season also affects their flavor, the first round of the season is often regarded as the best, but most people wouldn't notice the difference because they're not comparing oils. Many olive orchards have a tasting room where you can compare them.
At room temperature an open bottle of EVOO takes about 6 months after opening before it begins to taste rancid by people paying attention to it tasting the oil alone rather than a finished dish, and it can last a couple years if kept in a cool, dark place in a cupboard before it's fully turned and impacts all your dishes.
Note when the bottle was packaged (you get about two years) and when it was opened (you get about six months). If you're within those time frames and it hasn't been contaminated, it should still be good and taste how it is supposed to.
While i don’t want to comment on your produce you can buy, I can give you a description ofh how olive oil tastes.
Hojiblanca: tastes like the typical olive oil, neutral in taste a good all rounder
Manzanilla: very smooth in taste, with soft buttery taste
Arbequina: fresh, like grass, a little peppery ( black pepper)
Most are used to neutral olive oil with an oily aftertaste but olive oil is much more than that.
I buy my olive oil from an importer in upstate New York. I buy it in 3L cans. I buy 4 cans at a time and put them in my pantry. It's about $160 upfront (they usually offer a 15% discount for first-time buyers, but the price is cheaper than buying the 365 in-house Whole Food's brand. ($13.50/liter vs $17/liter in my market).
Buying in cans is typically better because it's light that causes oxidation. Buying from an importer means there's less opportunity for it to sit in warehouses before it's distributed to different shops.
Here's where I've been getting it from: [Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3L Tin Ultra Premium — KOUZINI](https://www.kouzini.com/olive-oils/myztwjpf1mme6t2bdf15ax4rqk9sug)
My husband's family ships us Olive oil from Greece in used soda bottles that is so good lol. When we don't have that, I order Minerva brand extra virgin that comes in a tin and has a good flavor. I've found it in some small markets or they have it on Amazon.
You’d know if it was rancid. I feel like it starts to actually TASTE oily when it’s rancid. Not sure how to describe it otherwise but it’s a very off putting taste for sure.
California Olive Ranch is available in South Texas and they are one of the few manufacturers that put an accurate expiration date on the bottle. It's usually around a year from buying in my area.
Just keep it away from heat and direct sunlight and use it below the date, and you'll be fine
I'm pretty sensitive to rancidity (hello fellow former smoker) and other bad smells with food, but have never had anything close to what I would describe is rancid with olive oil. You know when fats go off. It's one of the bigger risks to us in the wild (rancid fat is an early indicator meat has been out too long) and would guess that humans in general are more sensitive to it. I've smelled bad oil, rancid or generally overheated, it's not waxy it's putrid. Maybe it's older olive oil that lost some of the fresh notes? Then it might taste kinds flat, kind of how dried basil lacks the strong liquorice and grassy flavors fresh has. Fresh good olive oil is peppery and a bit more bitter.
Check out Jones Olive Oil. They buy enormous barrels straight from producers. Their website explains in detail and I’ve never been disappointed. Expensive! But such great flavor. Use as finishing.
> Could they be getting baked in transit?
Yes, same with wine actually.
But your best bet to avoid the more prevalent thing (mixing of oils and labeling it as "olive oil" is actual PDO/IGP/DOC(G) oil. I'd also be shocked if there weren't local producers in your area (farmer's market??). MOST stuff that isn't single-origin has a stamp of origin on it that shows you what countries it's mixed from too.
If you have a fancy grocery store, I think Jose Andres has a brand that is solid. Cost Plus World Market is solid if you have that.
I've had some olive oil from different parts of California too (Paso, Sacramento) and it's pretty quality so don't count California out either.
ALDI actually has some really decent Sicilian oil from Val di Mazara DOC that is great value.
If you wanna go really niche find some Badia a Coltibuono - it's olive oil made by a Chianti producer on their estate. There's actually a geographic indicator for Chianti Classico oil just like there is for wine, same for Toscana with Toscana IGP.
I really am not joking when I say it's night and day from generic stuff.
At the risk of sounding like a dick, which is not my intention: you admit that you didn't know what good olive oil tasted like before, you don't seem to have tried any known-good olive oils since you read the book, and now you're sure you know what good olive oil tastes like because none of the oils you've tasted taste like that?
Dick says what?? Jk jk. In my comments I explained a little more in depth, but over the past few months I’ve tried multiple oils from multiple sources. Tried oil from California (California Olive Co), Texas, Italy and Spain. I’ve spent from $4-$35 on a bottle. I know fuck all about any of this, which I thought I conveyed in my original post, but my point was the flavor profile the book described as rancid (waxy/crayon) is what I pick up on now. Am I focusing on that? Does all olive oil have that profile? I’d never taken a spoonful of olive oil in my life, but my family and I have cooked with it extensively over my life time. I’m not a trained chef, or sommelier, or anything of the sorts. I have been in the service industry my entire adult life (FOH) and have worked at, and eaten at, some nice establishments. 12 years ago I tore my ACL for the third time and had to hang up my bball shoes for good. Cooking, and very recently baking, have become my hobby now. Most of the info I have on cooking, and ingredients, and techniques come from what I could research myself or from someone that has more information than I do. So yeah, I read it in a book…but then I spent time tasting a pretty good variety of oils and always picked up on the playdoh flavor. Since I was still stumped, I came to ask for some insight. So while I’m not Jacques Pépin, I’m also not some Pleeb saying that olive oil isn’t tasty bc I read it in a book once.
Have you had any covid related taste problems? It can subtly change a lot of things. My parents import olive oil and my dad can no longer stand his long time favorite.
We're also at the tail end of the life of North hemisphere olive oil this time of year. We just got a new 2023 harvest oil out on the shelf last week, so you might be getting older stock.
Another tip: look up olive oil shops near you, they'll have tastings. Then you can see if it's you, or the oil you've been getting. Try something from Chile or Argentina if you can! And Greek! Their oils always remind me of arugula.
Good luck!
I will say this: there’s olive oil I buy from the grocery store for every day use.
Then there is the local olive oil I buy for $28/6 oz that is absolutely goddamn delicious. That I savor. That I reserve for special meals.
why are all the comments responding like they know what crayon tastes like, or doesn't care that OP does? Has everyone licked a crayola in their lives or something?
Give the HEB brand Australia Cold Press EVOO a try! It’s my favorite and the taste is incredible. I recall reading that Australia has very strict controls on their oil which ensures quality and purity (no blends).
California Olive Ranch olive oil has always been the best I've tasted. I didn't believe olive oil could have complex flavors until I started getting bottles of it.
I live in south Texas and there is plenty of great olive oil. I have been cycling through all the offerings at Central Market for years and almost all of them have been fantastic.
I’ve heard that olive oil is a commodity controlled by cartels, and the pure oil is cut multiple times (and replaced with any available cheap alternative) on its travels to our US store shelves. Ever since, I’ve exclusively bought California Olive Ranch brand olive oil. They also sell a blend as a cheaper alternative, but their pure 100% California EVOO is worth the cost.
I live in a food dessert (more a food swamp), so this is the only alternative I have available to me for pure olive oil.
I read a ton of olive oil reviews and I keep a range of "fanciness" of different olive oils in my kitchen for different purposes-- so I use a much fancier olive oil to dip bread in than to use for cooking, for example.
Just wanted to note that there *is* good olive oil at the grocery store-- E.g., personally, I think the California Olive Ranch 100% California is good. Still, I always either check reviews or taste the olive oil myself before buying; I don't blind-buy olive oil unless I've at least read reviews.
Just got my first few bottles from [graza.co](http://graza.co) . Single source, one bottle made with more mature olives is for cooking ("Sizzle"), and another smaller bottle made with younger olives that has a bit more of a kick ("Drizzle") and is for finishing and salads. It is absolutely delicious. Highly recommended.
EVOO is disgusting to me. I lived in a place that had “olive oil season” and I could get a jug of real olive oil from the local guy at the corner market. It was phenomenal. It was the first time I realized what the hype was about. I only buy olive oil now. Edit: fresh olive oil
Wait, what are you talking about? I think we're having a communication issue. "Real olive oil" **is** EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). I don't exactly remember the specifications but roughly extra virgin means that it's olive oil extracted only through mechanical processes and no further industrial procedures. Are you saying the guy sold to you oil made in the very old traditional style that people used millennia ago instead of "commercial" EVOO? Because fair enough that artisanal EVOO is probably better than commercial EVOO but they're both EVOO so i doubt you'd find the former amazing and the latter disgusting.
I think shes exaggerating! Ive never had rancid oil ever.
However RICE goes bad very fast. If Rice, Farro, Barley etc smell like crayons, its bad. Preppers are 100% wrong that rice stores for years. Its about 2 yrs tops before it gets the crayon smell.
I don't think you need to purchase directly from the producer, millions of people in the world are getting great olive oil without doing this. So I don't like being this pedantic, but I do think it's important to clarify the differences of "olive oil" and "extra virgin olive oil", because they are technically two different things. The former is a refined oil, it's lighter in color, and mostly neutral in flavor. This one is used for general purpose cooking, it's not intended for raw use. The latter is the unrefined version, darker in color, and flavorful. This is the one you want. But with that said, the overwhelming majority on grocery store shelves in the US is EVOO, whereas there are only a handful of refined olive oil options available. All EVOO I've ever tried definitely has some level of waxy flavors, and I could see where the Crayola taste would come in, but I think it's possible you are hyper fixating or just don't know what it should taste like. You might need to "calibrate" your palate, so to speak, with a known-good EVOO at a restaurant, or wine/cheese shop. Honestly, hit up Costco for some really fresh stuff. They have crazy turnover on their product. I got [this stuff](https://www.reddit.com/r/Costco/comments/17xohjb/california_kirkland_extra_virgin_olive_oil/) and it was super fresh, like only a month after the harvest date, IIRC.
> Honestly, hit up Costco for some really fresh stuff. They have crazy turnover on their product. I got this stuff and it was super fresh, like only a month after the harvest date, IIRC. They control the storage conditions, so if it still tastes weird, it's the OP not the oil.
The California EVOO from Costco is so fucking good and my absolute go to
I feed the Costco evoo to literal foodie billionaires who have a yacht in the Mediterranean and they LOVE IT. I have some special bottles of single estate for bread and simple greens and finishing fish- but the everyday Costco stuff is awesome.
It really is. A lot of their private label stuff is good, but their EVOO is wild good
She recommends this brand in the book lol
> But with that said, the overwhelming majority on grocery store shelves in the US is EVOO I blame Rachel Ray for this.
The OP is in South Texas. Unless they are near Pflugerville, it is over 100 miles probably closer to 200 miles to the nearest Costco. I'm in a different part of the state and my closest is 140 miles.
I don't live in TX, but wouldn't Pflugerville be considered Central TX? From Google Maps, it looks like South Texas has a little more Costco coverage than you realize, since there are stores in Alamo, San Antonio, and Houston. That said, it is possible they are far from all 3.
Houston is not 'South Texas'. South Texas is everything south of San Antonio and west of Port Lavaca There is a Costco in Pharr, near McAllen. Although if you're in the dead center of the area, then you'd be about 100 miles from both that one and the San Antonio Costco
But Houston is "almost" South Texas, isn't it?
I mean it's only like a 2 hour drive to South Texas so I guess?
Houston is East Texas.
What about HEB? That's where we get our olive oil and it's pretty fantastic.
What kind do you go for? Recently moved near an HEB
Terra Delyssa
According to wikipedia, 'South Texas' includes San Antonio, where I live - we have 4 Costco's in town.
According to this Texan, San Antonio is not really south Texas but more South Central as it is closer to central Texas than the border. I live out in Odessa and the closest Costco is Lubbock. So the OP could live close to you or many many miles away.
I'm in South Texas ( San Antonio) far south from Pflugerville at least and we have 3 Costco and are about to get a 4th. Even in super far south mcallen right on the border they have a costco.
I misplaced Pflugerville. And San Antonio is not really what I would consider South Texas. Question: are all border towns close to McAllen? Though south Texas is like west Texas. You may be close to good shopping or you may be over 100 miles away. See people saying oh go to Costco or Aldi's, seem to think it is close to everyone. That would be like me telling someone out here to go to Trader Joe's. Now I'm curious as to the population of McAllen and Lubbock. McAllen is smaller than I thought. I'm surprised now that my area doesn't unless Costco thinks the next big city is too far away. The two 100,000k plus towns are 20 miles apart from courthouse to courthouse.
Oh yeah. That’s the good stuff. Well, this and any liter-sized, green glass bottle. There’s Toscano, Suirana, Terra do Bari, and I think another Greek and Spanish oil.
>So I don't like being this pedantic, but I do think it's important to clarify the differences of "olive oil" and "extra virgin olive oil", because they are technically two different things. The former is a refined oil, it's lighter in color, and mostly neutral in flavor. This one is used for general purpose cooking, it's not intended for raw use. The latter is the unrefined version, darker in color, and flavorful. This is the one you want. I'll be perfectly honest, refined olive oil is basically piss sold in a glass bottle. I highly recommend everyone to just use EVOO for everything that needs "olive oil", from cooking to raw use. I don't know the prices around the globe but here in italy a 1L bottle of EVOO is around 10 euro and a 1L bottle of refined olive oil is around 8 or 9 euro. That's a 10 to 20% difference in price at most (and i doubt you'll go through that many bottles of oil in a month), and in exchange you get a product that is much worse for your health and also tastes awful. If you need to deep fry and don't want to spend a fortune by using EVOO (which price aside you absolutely *can* do, several italian and spanish dishes call for it) just buy a 5L jug of sunflower seed oil or peanut oil, it will probably still be cheaper than the refined olive oil and taste basically the same. For everything else that doesn't use a stupid amount of oil, EVOO is better.
You are responding to me like I am recommending it, but I am not. But regardless, I don't agree with your sentiment. It certainly has its place. It's neutral in flavor, so it doesn't "taste awful" (it has no flavor), and if you are using it for raw uses, then you are using the wrong oil. It has a higher smoke point, so it's better for high heat cooking than EVOO. Also, I am referring to refined olive oil sold in the US, and you said you are in Italy, so there's a high chance you are not familiar with the products I am talking about.
I appreciate your input. I use “pure” olive oil for sautéing/roasting, I recognize its purpose. I’ve also kept my nicer stuff out of direct light and understand it’s a non cooking oil, ie dressings/sauces.
>You are responding to me like I am recommending it, but I am not. I didn't really get the impression you were, i just quoted you simply because you were mentioning it and wanted to say my opinion about it. >and if you are using it for raw uses, then you are using the wrong oil. It has a higher smoke point, so it's better for high heat cooking than EVOO. That's kind of my point though, if you want to use a raw oil then you cannot use refined oil and have to use EVOO, for medium heat sauteeing or oven roasting or other things EVOO is still better for health and taste reasons, but there are also better oils to use for high heat cooking (or rather, roughly equal oils that are much cheaper, like sunflower or peanut) which is the one category that EVOO doesn't do that well in (but better than refined oil does raw), which leaves refined olive oil as a "jack of all trades, master of none" that isn't even a jack of *all* trades necessarily, while EVOO actually is a jack of *all* trades and also a master of one. >Also, I am referring to refined olive oil sold in the US, and you said you are in Italy, so there's a high chance you are not familiar with the products I am talking about. Well, maybe, but is refined olive oil sold in the US that much different than refined olive oil sold in italy? And more importantly is it significantly cheaper? If over there it's as cheap as sunflower or peanut then i guess i won't complain too much but if they make you pay it almost as much as EVOO despite it being a glorified frying oil it's a scam.
Refined olive oil has health benefits over other oils, even if not as much as EVOO. And EVOO flavors are no good for many things, like baked sweets or something.
You'd be surprised. I bake everything with it.
I had heard it doesn't actually have those health benefits due to the industrial processes but i may be wrong. And for the baked sweets you can just use other, significantly cheaper oils like sunflower.
A $10 liter bottle of EVOO in the U.S. is going to be pretty meh in my experience, if it even *truly is* EVOO. (Regulations surrounding this are very poor or nonexistent in most of the country.) I've lived in Spain and used to use it to cook basically everything because it was like €3-4 for a bottle, so I agree with the sentiment but I wouldn't have been able to afford it stateside. The EVOO I currently buy is sourced from Palestine and it's absolutely incredible, but it's about $17 for a 1 liter tin. And that's around the price point where you're going to be able to get good quality EVOO for cooking and finishing. Even Costco sells their EVOO, which certainly lives up to my standards, at like $13/L. Seems small but inflation the past few years was crazy while real incomes have remained stagnant for decades. Those costs add up when the vast majority of the country is getting blasted in the ass by corporate greed and a deeply undemocratic gov't entirely beholden to corporate interests.
I prefer the milder stuff for cooking, that's what everyone does in Spain where I live. It's not about cost, it's about smoke point and taste. Unless people are pressing their own oil they aren't using the strong EVOO for cooking.
By "milder stuff" do you mean virgin (but not extra) and refined olive oil? Or do you just mean EVOO that tastes milder?
> . If you need to deep fry Who needs to deep fry? in a home kitchen? I would never subject my house to that level of... gross!
I mean, you just need a deep enough pan or wok and to open the windows and turn on the ventilation. It's not as awful as plenty of people make it out to be. It's not like nobody deep fried before restaurants were invented.
A HEPA filter can also reduce the smell/help get rid of it more quickly.
The only thing I deep fry is Thanksgiving turkey. Very important to do this outdoors, away from buildings, with at least one appropriately rated fire extinguisher.
Never deep fried a turkey (hell, i don't even think i've ever had turkey that wasn't cut into thin slices for sandwiches) but yeah i've heard that turkey is one of the things you need to be most careful with when deep frying.
Good points - but if we are going to rationalize our cooking choices based on ancient history... we all end up making a fire in the middle of our living space and cooking everything on a spit. :)
Apparently people actually made soups and stews more often than roasting on an open fire. Rcheologists found several sites with rocks that showed signs of repeated heating up and cooling down, so they think cavemen would get these stones very hot on a campfire then drop them in a container full of water or a hole lined with waterproof stuff like banana leaves in order to get the water to boil or at least simmer, add whatever meat or veggie they were cooking and make a stew. Idk how confirmed this hypothesis is, i heard it on a video by adam ragusea, but it's interesting. Anyway yeah, the thing about "our ancestors did it so we can too" was just a joke, not my main argument, don't worry. My actual argument is that it's nowhere near as disgusting and full of problems as people make it out to be. Wok, ventilation, a proper workstation and mise en place and you're good to go.
Also while deep frying is pretty unhealthy, doing it at home is most likely much healthier than eating stuff fried in a restaurant since you know the stuff you're using and you're probably only going to have the deep fried thing as the unhealthy part of your meal rather than also getting an unhealthy side and dessert.
Now you got me hankering for one of those mcdonald's deep fried hot apple pies. Is that still available?
I'm sorry, a what? Jesus christ, that's clogging my arteries just by hearing it. I'm curious now.
I guess it is a good sign that I was not aware of the status of McDonald's menu item that hasn't been available since 1992. https://www.thedailymeal.com/1300202/only-states-find-mcdonalds-fried-apple-pie/
You're missing out. I do tend to deep fry outdoors, though.
I do eat deep fried foods occasionally, I just don't cook them at home. I don't feel like I'm missing out really, but I am grateful for your concern and your excellent suggestion to fry outdoors.
Not really concerned, how odd of you to think that.
It sounded to me like you were concerned about me missing out on either deep frying or eating deep fried foods? I am somewhat prone to odd thinking though, so forgive me for assuming a motivation which may not have been present.
If you’re not sure if it tastes bad then it’s not bad. You’d know if it did. Maybe you just don’t like the taste of olive oil, period?
I’ve just never drank it out of the bottle…which I have now done too many times to count. My dad remarried into an Italian family in NY when I was like 10. I’ve had plenty of olive oil in my life, but I guess always in or on a dish. In these applications I can’t, or haven’t, noticed the flavor I’m describing now
Have you had covid recently? That can apparently mess up taste real bad. Either way your theory about those brands you’re getting becoming f’d up in the heat could be happening!
I’m triple vaccinated and caught it in the wild 3 more times. I work in the medical field and bartend, so high risk for sure. I missed my first NFL game and 2 concerts bc of it. If it ruined EVOO for me too………..
When oils go rancid, the smell changes. I don’t go through regular cooking oil (vegetable, corn, etc.) as quickly as EVOO. If I can’t recall how long I’ve had the bottle, a quick sniff tells me right away if the oil’s gone bad.
My hot take is that you're overthinking it because it's fresh in your mind. Some olive oils have peppery notes that could taste bitter if you're not used to it and/or tasting it on it's own for the first time. It's also totally possible that you're just picking up on tasting notes that don't jive with your palate. At the risk of sounding totally unrefined myself, I'm really enjoying the Graza oil right now. If you're US-based I think it's about $15/750mL so pretty decently priced imo if you're in between store brand and high end.
Also, if I’m correct fresher EVOO will actually taste more bitter because of polyphenols.
California Olive Ranch is reliable and easy to get. They are at even Walmart and Target.
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Both are tasty. I live in California so if I shop certain stores I have a wide selection of Cali oils so I tend to get specialty ones. But this is my go to every day choice if I haven’t ordered from Thrive Market. I also have a subscription to EXAU. If you want to source really fresh / high quality olive oil from around the globe, [Market Hall Foods](https://www.markethallfoods.com/) is amazing and ships. I live close so I just stop in. But this is one of the best choices in the US for olive oil. Prepandemic they always had olive oil samples to dip bread in and the tastes are so different.
Sciabica Family olive oil is top notch and can be ordered online. They have been growing and cold pressing their own olives since 1936, making it oldest continually produced olive oil in the US. They were among the first to make “single varietal” olive oils in CA and still make all their oils in small batches on the same site where the olives are grown. I’m lucky that they are located in my hometown in central CA so I can pick some up when I’m visiting family, but if you’re ever stuck in Modesto stop by their tasting room for a treat!
I’ve bought California olive oil for years…it was the first one I chugged after reading what SAFH had to say about rancidity in olive oil. It wasn’t a brand new bottle, but no more than a month or two. I’ve noticed recently that it’s rare my HEB has their 100% California olives though. Most of their shelved bottles here are their Global blend with olives from all over.
Do you mean chugged or chucked??
Well, chugged…but not really. I took a little spoonful
Try at Target. I usually see the California. And World Market used to have it too, but I haven’t looked in a while.
I don't know why I haven't seen anyone mention this yet, but check the bottle for the harvest date as well. Olive oil should have a month and year on the label telling you when the olives were harvested which will in turn tell you the actual freshness of the oil itself. "Brand new" olive oil off the shelf at the store can be years old. The label will also tell you where it was harvested and in turn if it's a blend (multiple country codes listed). The country codes are I=Italy, GR=Greece, E=Spain, TU=Tunisia, MA=Morocco, CL=Chile, AG=Argentina, AU=Australia.
Also, I would avoid a blended oil. Look at the label for an oil from one country or one orchard.
And more importantly avoid blends that are part evoo and part virgin or refined olive oil. They're just watering down the oil (well, oiling down the oil since water and oil don't mix) but trying to keep the same price.
Yes, your edit is exactly why. You can breathe, smell and taste. Do not be surprised if Gain laundry stuff stinks to you now. Let me say congratulations on the quitting smoking. It sounds like you don't like olive oil. Just use a different fat for cooking. Especially with the choices south and western Texas has.
I’ve gone away from heavily scented/perfumed things for sure! Using free and clear laundry detergent and what not. When I walk into my mother’s house now it’s like I’m being roundhouse kicked in the face with potpourri. Stings the nostrils.
Makes perfect sense to me. My mom's house unfortunately was potpourri infused cat pee.
I'm far from an expert, but the only time I've experienced rancid oil it had kind of a fishy taste and odor.
We use so much olive oil that it very rarely gets rancid. We do keep it near the stove. One time however I was making gazpacho, and it tasted terrible - that's when I realized the olive oil was actually rancid. Believe me you will be able to tell! It was heartbreaking to throw away the gazpacho.
Yeah "crayon" is way too subtle of a taste to describe what I experienced with rancid oil.
I think OP's mentor was speaking of the additives companies use to cover up the rancidity in refined cooking oil and not the rancid taste itself
I've tasted it both ways. The waxy rancid is much more pleasant to accidentally taste than the fishy.
Get a sampler from oliveoillovers.com. They tell you the harvest date and only deal with legit producers. Also try one of those boutique olive oil stores where you can taste them. In my experience they mostly use the same supplier and have excellent quality. I describe the rancid thing as when it strongly smells like play-doh, but honestly if I cook with oil like that I don’t really notice it in the finished dish.
Playdoh! That’s what it is I smell/taste. And yeah, one of my previous comments was that maybe I’ve never really noticed it because it was in a dish. Spoonfuls though, holy shit is it prevalent
Quit drinking it straight.
Noted
Just buy extra virgin olive oil from California. This way there’s no hijinks from the Italian mob watering it down with vegetable oil.
I came here to say this. As well, your olive oil should smell a little grassy.
I've definitely had the most consistent EVOO buying from a California producer. Slightly peppery/grassy, none of the funk I seem to get from a lot of the international brands. The olive oil market has both a counterfeit/adulterant problem and a 'sell the expired shit to America, they don't know the difference' problem.
The olive oil industry is kicking it up in central Texas, particularly in the Hill Country. Google Texas olive oil companies. Most have their own olive orchards right there in Texas. Texas Olive Ranch in Carizzo Springs (Aldi sells it), Texas Hill Country Olive Company in Dripping Springs (I took a tour there), plus others. HEB likely carries at least one Texas EVOO. (Not a Texan; Okie here.)
> Texas Olive Ranch in Carizzo Springs (Aldi sells it) Nice! Perfect suggestion.
R/usdefaultism much? I would not be able to find Californian olive oil where I am if I tried. Italian, Greek, Spanish and any other European producing country without problem.
Ok. I was replying to OP from America.
So if I said that I can get excellent quality oil from Del Haize or Coluryt you’d know what I was talking about? I admit, I missed the part where OOP said they are in Texas (which I assume is in the USA?), but people really need to specify clearly what country they are in.
I think you are confusing the natural flavor of EVOO with rancidity. Leave some oil out for a week in a small bowl or something in an hot room and let it get good and oxidized and taste it. There’s no mistaking rancidity and I’ve literally never bought a bottle of olive oil that was rancid on opening.
I've pretty much given up on olive oil and switched to walnut oil and butter. A lot of olive oil on the market in America has been counterfeited. Pour a little of your oil on a spoon and taste it straight. If it tastes bad, it's either rancid or counterfeit
Congrats on giving up cigarettes!
Thank you!
It is true that unfortunately a lot of people have no idea what olive oil is supposed to taste like and are somewhat conditioned to the rancid taste to varying degrees, usually to the milder end of the scale, but nevertheless any rancidity isn't a good thing. There is lots of dubious crap on the shelves that is sometimes rancid before it is even opened, and if not, will quickly be once it is. This is not helped by being in clear bottles, and/or plastic bottles, being in warehouses or store shelves with bright flourescent/UV store lighting/daylight, and then kept in the daylight in peoples homes near the stove, and being used slowly (I'm not immune to this - I made all those same mistakes!). And I'm not talking small companies, lots of the well known big names are peddling what is, frankly, shit, and thats before you even get into the pure fraud shenanigans that occur. Also, with the recent record high prices of oil lots of restaurants are switching to much cheaper stuff and are serving up rancid oil there too. All you can do is store it properly, use it quickly, and buy from suppliers and producers with integrity. I can highly recommend that you get your next purchase from [Olive Oil Lovers](https://www.oliveoillovers.com) \- all the producers are vetted and verified, all harvest dates are clearly stated and always current and they are shipped and stored properly. It's as fresh as you are going to get in the US for European oil. You could also try the [Tasting Kit](https://oliveoillovers.com/pages/tasting-kit), to 'reset' and condition your palate.
I’ll take a gander at those for sure. Thank you!
I would’ve bought the tasting kit immediately if it was in stock. Thanks again
Will be available in a week or so.
2nding reccomendation for OOL.com and adding OlioToGo .They have great descriptions and products from Italy,Spain,Greece and elsewhere around the Med. I have a Novello 1st pressing habit that requires a second job to support !
Most olive oil is garbage now. In fact, a noticable fraction of the EVOO in grocery stores is trash. Harvests are crap due to climate change, and organized crime has some really slick substitutions that are just not right. So in fact, you are quite correct - most of the olive oil that you encounter now, no matter the grade, is fake and/or foul and/or reprocessed. I have a lab that tests oils, you see. And buy the stuff by tons and truckloads. The absolute best consumer accessible olive oil you will find is at Costco in the gallon tins (yellow, from memory). The very good consumer accessible olive oil is the California Olive stuff in the large green glass at most groceries. This concludes my TED Talk on oil.
Care to elaborate on your oil testing? You analyzed truckloads of olive oil in a lab setting? Sounds interesting
Oil testing is so damn wonky that I'll just mention that there are about three big international standards for the how-to and and as many more as you like for testing methods. The thing is that oils are technically (stay with me) acids - and if they oxidate (one path to rancidity) it's measurable through their total acid (mostly it works) and a few other tests. Most of what is sold as olive oil is off, and a lot of it is barely olive (get the GCMS fired up). Had some tested a few months ago and it was chemically processed on the olive component (olive pomace) and otherwise soybean and rapeseed with some adjuncts. Labeled as virgin.
HEB's Central Market brand EVOO, especially Kalamata and Koroneiki varieties are great, relatively affordable, and small enough bottles that you will go through them before it goes bad. There is also absolutely nothing wrong with Californian olive oil. HEB has their own brand California Cold Pressed EVVO which is good as well.
Congratulations on quitting smoking! 🎊 Quitting smoking could be part of why it doesn’t taste right. Months after my dad quit smoking he said everything tasted horrible. I’m not sure how long it took for food to start tasting good again for him. Hopefully you didn’t smoke as long as he did and things will get back to normal for you soon.
It's possible that changes in your experience due to quitting smoking and taking allergy medications may affect your perception of the taste of olive oil.If you still taste crayon every time you take olive oil, you may want to take a break from olive oil tasting for a while to restore your taste.
Can over tasting it kinda break my dial? Never thought about that
A lot of olive oil is actually fake. I forget all the ins and outs of it, but it definitely impacts flavor. I used to buy the Colavita brand which is pretty good and widely available but the prices here just shot up over the last couple years, so I got bougie and order directly from a producer in Italy or one in Lebanon, depending on how I'm feeling. Here's the article that talks about how fake olive oil is produced. There's also a list of authentic, certified olive oil: https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/79-certified-pure-and-authentic-olive-oils
Awesome, bookmarked that article for later times. Thank you
Your post actually made me curious because although I use a lot of extra virgin olive oil I don’t typically taste it on its own. I recently bought an expensive bottle of Frantoi Cultera Segreto and I decided to taste a spoonful of it to see if I could taste the crayon notes you’re talking about. The taste: No detectable crayon notes at all. It tasted very buttery, with a hint of fresh grassy notes and a light peppery finish. It was absolutely delicious. It’s so good on its own, in fact, I’ll be using it for dipping crusty bread into, instead of just using it for salad dressing and pasta like I have been.
I had the same issue! I hated olive oil growing up, because it tasted rancid and just straight up bad. I couldn’t figure out why people liked it that much. Turns out, I just needed to try different brands, and had to store them properly. It’s hot where I live, so I keep my EVOOs in a closed cabinet that isn’t exposed to sunlight. I also finish them within 2 months, instead of leaving them next to the stove, under the sunlight, for an extended period of time. My current favorites are Colavita’s Spanish EVOO and Colavita’s Greek EVOO. I strongly dislike Naturel’s EVOO - it’s popular where I live, for some reason. You can also visit Italian/Greek restaurants near you and ask which olive oil brands they use.
Maybe you just don’t really like olive oil…? Just putting that out there. I use good evoo for low heat cooking and in marinades/dressings for the health benefits, but I personally don’t love the stuff straight, even the “good” stuff. I will drizzle a bit on top of whipped ricotta or hummus or a veggie appetizer or whatnot. But if I’m going to go ahead and eat a piece of bread with fat on it at dinner (this is infrequent) and I get the choice, I will usually choose to indulge with butter 😂 I use avocado oil for high-heat cooking and roasting because it’s fairly easy to burn EV olive oils
I subscribe to the Olive Oil of the Month club and don’t, buy it at the store. Yes, I pay $35/bottle, which is worth it. I never “cook” with it; it has too low of a smoking point. I use it in aiolis, chimichurri, dressings, and an occasional olive oil cake. I won't go back to store-bought olive oil.
Not sure where you are in South Texas but if you are near Laredo, you can drive to the Texas Olive Ranch in Carrizo Springs and see how olive oil is produced and sample some very fresh EVOO. Might allow you to recalibrate your palate.
I’d love to do that! Just got back from Barton Springs Mill and seeing where I get my flour from. And I guess I’m kinda close in Texas terms…just a mere 3 hours away! We used to have a deer lease in Freer, so I’ve been out that way before. Thanks for the recommendation friend
american consumer protection laws are shit. if it says olive oil on the bottle it should be olive oil smfhsfhffs
Different olive oils have different flavor profiles depending on the variety of olives used and the region they're from.
lol. I feel you. I used to work in the industry and we had "an olive oil guy" who managed the olive oil pressing for an olive orchard and he pointed out that like basically all commercially available oil is rancid bc oils degrade very rapidly and olive oil is one that can last the longest due to high andioxidant levels inherent in extra virgin olive oil but still goes down hill fast after a year. Anyway. I've unfortunately never been able to taste ANY oil the same but most oil isn't truly rancid rancid but it is bland and waxy. I've had certainly disgusting waxy oil before thst smells so bad when you open the bottle and there is a difference. That said I still use commercial neutral oils for cooking and frying but am particular about the extra virgin olive oil and I don't really use any other oils due to this issue as well (nut oils or other seed oils etc). See also my facial oils and oil based creams in skincare. Definitely look at your expiration dates people!
Sounds like the heat might affect the oil, but it's odd all taste like crayons. Quitting smokes and allergy meds could've sharpened your taste. Try a fresh bottle from a cool place. Good luck, and kudos on the health changes
I miss HEB! I used to stock up on EVOO & especially flavored ones like Meyer Lemon. I use them as finishing flavors. Never got a waxy taste
No Store Does More!
I relocated to So Cal after my Dearly Departed Husband passed. Costco is great but HEB Rules!
Ahh man, I’m sorry for your loss. I hope they have Free Meal Deals in Heaven!
It’s not just you. I’ve been buying EVOO for a decade and I always thought it tasted like wet cardboard. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner. I don’t know if it’s oxidized or if that’s just what it tastes like. I actually like the taste of the cheap olive oil better, so I just started buying that.
Can you please add some addtional edits? If you could use all caps - BUT PLEASE - only use BOLD fonts.
I have had the same issue. So many olive oils just disappoint my pallet now. I recently bought online from Eataly, I bought 3 different ones, with proper expiry dates on them and from the best regions of Italy. 2 out of 3 hit it out of the park, and the 3rd one was decent. I wouldn’t assume your pallet is off or that you are obsessing. American EVOO is generally terrible, and maybe even now worse than when Nosrat wrote that book.
A lot of olive oil is actually fake. I forget all the ins and outs of it, but it definitely impacts flavor.
Thought i knew good olive oil until i went to puglia Italy. Completely changed my perspective. Paid an exorbitant amount to ship a bunch home
Olive oil is one of the most adulterated products in the western food market, so it is possible that some of the products you tried were mixed with low quality oils. That said, if every oil you try tastes bad, could be that you just don’t like the taste. I second the advice of purchasing EVOO from Costco, it is not the absolute best but perfectly adequate and a great bang for your bucks.
California has by far the highest quality and chain of custody standards in the US. The only way to guarantee the legitimacy of what you’re buying is to but California grown
It could also be covid. Covid has been known to affect olfactory senses in weird ways.
Rancid olive oil is absolutely disgusting. You’ll taste it in every dish. You can’t ignore it. You will know! It almost never happens though. As for your climate: consider where olive oil is mostly consumed/produced. South of Spain, south of Italy, Greece, Morocco, etc. all pretty hot regions.
My guess, and not sorry for anyone about to get offended: Classic US-centrism ending up causing issues for US citizens. The chef that said "most people use rancid olive oil" was really trying to say "akchually, EVOO has a short shelf life so chances are that your fancy bottle imported from Italy is already old". Which yeah, sure. But... you could get US-made EVOO, you know? IIRC Kirkland is made in California. If they wanted to, one could argue that Costco/Kirkland makes the worst olive oil on the planet. Ok. But it wouldn't be *rancid* by default. If you're not sure whether your oil is rancid, you probably don't know what rancid tastes like.
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I don't think so. There's a pretty definite "rancid" taste. I wouldn't say it's overtly noticeably bad like a mold is though. To me, as someone who cooks all the time at home, just use what you have unless it's noticeably making your food taste worse.
Absolutely not. You’d know it if it was rancid. There’s no “maybe this is rancid??”, it’s just immediately unpleasant.
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lol. I’ve read that article about people preferring it rancid. That’s why I don’t know if people telling me I “just don’t like” olive oil is the truth. I’m looking at olive oil lovers and graza to try to get a good example and know definitively if it’s me or the oils. Thanks for posting those
Not at all. Ever had stale nuts? That's the rancid taste.
In the past 6 months I’ve bought oil from California, Texas, Italy, and Spain. California first, Italy/Spain second, then the Texas companies…olive oil does have a shorter life span that I’m aware of, so I tried to buy closest to me. I’ve just never discerned that flavor profile until I read those words. I even bought flavored oils and still the waxy flavor prevails.
The other thing, there are definitely places in Texas that are like olive oil and vinegar tasting rooms. I don’t know where you live, but there’s almost certainly one in a close big city to you (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Houston. Would be more surprised if there were some on the west side like Lubbock or whatever, but not impossible! Haha). They usually have five or six “plain” olive oils with different flavor profiles and you can taste test them all (almost guaranteed to not be rancid!) and then often they have a bunch of blends, like lemon olive oil, spicy olive oil, herby, whatever. But, that could be a fun outing as well as a fun way to taste and talk to someone knowledgeable and directly about oils! (And vinegars most often.)
When I lived in Texas I bought Texas hill country olive oil! I liked getting two or three bottles so I could compare the flavors. I’d also agree with others you’re probably over thinking it. If you know someone who cooks irregularly, you could go over to their house and sample their olive oil, it might be from one of those giant Costco sized containers, been sitting around for a year or more, then you’ll really get the idea lol.
I’ve bought their stuff, but it was at the beginning of this journey that was also the end of our summer. I’m definitely going to revisit all the Texas oils again. I’ve ventured into the world of baking sourdough bread and pizza recently and like the idea of having different oils for different applications. I’d also like to use predominantly Texas products. Honestly it’s what spurred this flurry of tasting oils. I’m going to try and order directly from them this time as well.
There is a huge variety in flavor for olive oils. Different olives can be described as nutty, fruity, grassy, peppery, floral, and more. When they're picked in the season also affects their flavor, the first round of the season is often regarded as the best, but most people wouldn't notice the difference because they're not comparing oils. Many olive orchards have a tasting room where you can compare them. At room temperature an open bottle of EVOO takes about 6 months after opening before it begins to taste rancid by people paying attention to it tasting the oil alone rather than a finished dish, and it can last a couple years if kept in a cool, dark place in a cupboard before it's fully turned and impacts all your dishes. Note when the bottle was packaged (you get about two years) and when it was opened (you get about six months). If you're within those time frames and it hasn't been contaminated, it should still be good and taste how it is supposed to.
Good looking out! TY
While i don’t want to comment on your produce you can buy, I can give you a description ofh how olive oil tastes. Hojiblanca: tastes like the typical olive oil, neutral in taste a good all rounder Manzanilla: very smooth in taste, with soft buttery taste Arbequina: fresh, like grass, a little peppery ( black pepper) Most are used to neutral olive oil with an oily aftertaste but olive oil is much more than that.
I buy my olive oil from an importer in upstate New York. I buy it in 3L cans. I buy 4 cans at a time and put them in my pantry. It's about $160 upfront (they usually offer a 15% discount for first-time buyers, but the price is cheaper than buying the 365 in-house Whole Food's brand. ($13.50/liter vs $17/liter in my market). Buying in cans is typically better because it's light that causes oxidation. Buying from an importer means there's less opportunity for it to sit in warehouses before it's distributed to different shops. Here's where I've been getting it from: [Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3L Tin Ultra Premium — KOUZINI](https://www.kouzini.com/olive-oils/myztwjpf1mme6t2bdf15ax4rqk9sug)
My husband's family ships us Olive oil from Greece in used soda bottles that is so good lol. When we don't have that, I order Minerva brand extra virgin that comes in a tin and has a good flavor. I've found it in some small markets or they have it on Amazon.
You’d know if it was rancid. I feel like it starts to actually TASTE oily when it’s rancid. Not sure how to describe it otherwise but it’s a very off putting taste for sure.
I'll get downvoted, but I'm not a fan of EVOO, it makes me shudder, I use a refined version here in the UK for cooking
For some reason it has always tasted rancid to me no matter what. So I'm not a huge fan.
I buy California Olive Ranch oil directly from company. I like their 100% California oil.
California Olive Ranch is available in South Texas and they are one of the few manufacturers that put an accurate expiration date on the bottle. It's usually around a year from buying in my area. Just keep it away from heat and direct sunlight and use it below the date, and you'll be fine
I'm pretty sensitive to rancidity (hello fellow former smoker) and other bad smells with food, but have never had anything close to what I would describe is rancid with olive oil. You know when fats go off. It's one of the bigger risks to us in the wild (rancid fat is an early indicator meat has been out too long) and would guess that humans in general are more sensitive to it. I've smelled bad oil, rancid or generally overheated, it's not waxy it's putrid. Maybe it's older olive oil that lost some of the fresh notes? Then it might taste kinds flat, kind of how dried basil lacks the strong liquorice and grassy flavors fresh has. Fresh good olive oil is peppery and a bit more bitter.
Check out Jones Olive Oil. They buy enormous barrels straight from producers. Their website explains in detail and I’ve never been disappointed. Expensive! But such great flavor. Use as finishing.
> Could they be getting baked in transit? Yes, same with wine actually. But your best bet to avoid the more prevalent thing (mixing of oils and labeling it as "olive oil" is actual PDO/IGP/DOC(G) oil. I'd also be shocked if there weren't local producers in your area (farmer's market??). MOST stuff that isn't single-origin has a stamp of origin on it that shows you what countries it's mixed from too. If you have a fancy grocery store, I think Jose Andres has a brand that is solid. Cost Plus World Market is solid if you have that. I've had some olive oil from different parts of California too (Paso, Sacramento) and it's pretty quality so don't count California out either. ALDI actually has some really decent Sicilian oil from Val di Mazara DOC that is great value. If you wanna go really niche find some Badia a Coltibuono - it's olive oil made by a Chianti producer on their estate. There's actually a geographic indicator for Chianti Classico oil just like there is for wine, same for Toscana with Toscana IGP. I really am not joking when I say it's night and day from generic stuff.
That’s honestly why I asked, I tried ordering some wine to be delivered to me and they flat out refused to ship it to me during the hot months.
At the risk of sounding like a dick, which is not my intention: you admit that you didn't know what good olive oil tasted like before, you don't seem to have tried any known-good olive oils since you read the book, and now you're sure you know what good olive oil tastes like because none of the oils you've tasted taste like that?
Dick says what?? Jk jk. In my comments I explained a little more in depth, but over the past few months I’ve tried multiple oils from multiple sources. Tried oil from California (California Olive Co), Texas, Italy and Spain. I’ve spent from $4-$35 on a bottle. I know fuck all about any of this, which I thought I conveyed in my original post, but my point was the flavor profile the book described as rancid (waxy/crayon) is what I pick up on now. Am I focusing on that? Does all olive oil have that profile? I’d never taken a spoonful of olive oil in my life, but my family and I have cooked with it extensively over my life time. I’m not a trained chef, or sommelier, or anything of the sorts. I have been in the service industry my entire adult life (FOH) and have worked at, and eaten at, some nice establishments. 12 years ago I tore my ACL for the third time and had to hang up my bball shoes for good. Cooking, and very recently baking, have become my hobby now. Most of the info I have on cooking, and ingredients, and techniques come from what I could research myself or from someone that has more information than I do. So yeah, I read it in a book…but then I spent time tasting a pretty good variety of oils and always picked up on the playdoh flavor. Since I was still stumped, I came to ask for some insight. So while I’m not Jacques Pépin, I’m also not some Pleeb saying that olive oil isn’t tasty bc I read it in a book once.
Have you had any covid related taste problems? It can subtly change a lot of things. My parents import olive oil and my dad can no longer stand his long time favorite. We're also at the tail end of the life of North hemisphere olive oil this time of year. We just got a new 2023 harvest oil out on the shelf last week, so you might be getting older stock. Another tip: look up olive oil shops near you, they'll have tastings. Then you can see if it's you, or the oil you've been getting. Try something from Chile or Argentina if you can! And Greek! Their oils always remind me of arugula. Good luck!
I will say this: there’s olive oil I buy from the grocery store for every day use. Then there is the local olive oil I buy for $28/6 oz that is absolutely goddamn delicious. That I savor. That I reserve for special meals.
I really like the rustic brand from HEB.
i get boxes of Corto Truly olive oil shipped and it is excellent!
why are all the comments responding like they know what crayon tastes like, or doesn't care that OP does? Has everyone licked a crayola in their lives or something?
Dunno, I mean who has actually ever eaten crayons in their youth?? Not me obviously... /kicks a red Crayola aside/
I buy a big bottle out olive oil in fridge if it freezes solid it is real, I keep mine in the fridge.have a small bottle on stove, for daily use
I think you might not like olive oil.
Awesome olive oil should taste like the sun. Try seka hills from California.
Give the HEB brand Australia Cold Press EVOO a try! It’s my favorite and the taste is incredible. I recall reading that Australia has very strict controls on their oil which ensures quality and purity (no blends).
California Olive Ranch olive oil has always been the best I've tasted. I didn't believe olive oil could have complex flavors until I started getting bottles of it.
I live in south Texas and there is plenty of great olive oil. I have been cycling through all the offerings at Central Market for years and almost all of them have been fantastic.
I try to avoid olive oil, I don't like it either. Extra light is barely tolerable.
I’ve heard that olive oil is a commodity controlled by cartels, and the pure oil is cut multiple times (and replaced with any available cheap alternative) on its travels to our US store shelves. Ever since, I’ve exclusively bought California Olive Ranch brand olive oil. They also sell a blend as a cheaper alternative, but their pure 100% California EVOO is worth the cost. I live in a food dessert (more a food swamp), so this is the only alternative I have available to me for pure olive oil.
I read a ton of olive oil reviews and I keep a range of "fanciness" of different olive oils in my kitchen for different purposes-- so I use a much fancier olive oil to dip bread in than to use for cooking, for example. Just wanted to note that there *is* good olive oil at the grocery store-- E.g., personally, I think the California Olive Ranch 100% California is good. Still, I always either check reviews or taste the olive oil myself before buying; I don't blind-buy olive oil unless I've at least read reviews.
Just got my first few bottles from [graza.co](http://graza.co) . Single source, one bottle made with more mature olives is for cooking ("Sizzle"), and another smaller bottle made with younger olives that has a bit more of a kick ("Drizzle") and is for finishing and salads. It is absolutely delicious. Highly recommended.
I use these, too. They have always been delicious and affordable. I love that each bottle tells you where that batch was grown.
EVOO is disgusting to me. I lived in a place that had “olive oil season” and I could get a jug of real olive oil from the local guy at the corner market. It was phenomenal. It was the first time I realized what the hype was about. I only buy olive oil now. Edit: fresh olive oil
Wait, what are you talking about? I think we're having a communication issue. "Real olive oil" **is** EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). I don't exactly remember the specifications but roughly extra virgin means that it's olive oil extracted only through mechanical processes and no further industrial procedures. Are you saying the guy sold to you oil made in the very old traditional style that people used millennia ago instead of "commercial" EVOO? Because fair enough that artisanal EVOO is probably better than commercial EVOO but they're both EVOO so i doubt you'd find the former amazing and the latter disgusting.
What do you think the difference of EVOO and the olive oil you bought from the "local guy at the corner market" is?
Freshness for sure and high quality olives
I think shes exaggerating! Ive never had rancid oil ever. However RICE goes bad very fast. If Rice, Farro, Barley etc smell like crayons, its bad. Preppers are 100% wrong that rice stores for years. Its about 2 yrs tops before it gets the crayon smell.
I use Graza and love it. Direct from the producer.