How do you choose a decent olive oil?

What with most of it made from industrially centrifuged Spanish oil shipped to Italy for bottling.

I dont mind paying a fair wodge for something that I can taste the value in, but aiming for something labelled “Extra”, “Virgin”, “Cold Pressed”, “Italian” or all of the above seems only guaranteed to get you only something one notch up from Halfords 10-40W.

If I wear my disguise I can sneak into a local Waitrose but Morrisons still stock Olive Oil in the medicines aisle. Can you get it online?

I remember when this were all Heated Wingmirrors…etc…etc…

Eh ?

What on earth are you on about ??

I go to my local Italian deli and buy from them, which comes from their family estate in Italia.

I should note, I have a choice of two such Italian delis. Which is nice.

Extra virgin to eat, ordinary to cook with.

Try to find a scientific paper on purities?

A lecturer when I was in uni did his phd on this and concluded that lidl own was the best. Was a few years ago mind…

I have a choice of two such Italian delis

Come to the shires much, boy? 😉

I like Lidl. Got to love a store that makes you bag up away from the till 🙂

I’ve just started using cold pressed, extra virgin rape seed oil.

Absolutely delicious, and ‘better’ for you apparently. Also local, not imported if that means anything to you.

One was in the Shires at the weekend, old chap. One has Waitrose there. It suffices.

Lidl oil

Pauly – does the rapeseed have that fresh and peppery taste of olive though?

Try to find a scientific paper on purities?

Not sure I want something “pure”. I want something authentic. With hint of rat etc.

Linky.

Have a read, very interesting.

I get mine through a friend, she’s Greek and her family own a farm and olive grove, They cold press their own and she always brings me back a few tins or plastic bottles of the stuff when she visits which is usually 4 times a year, that sounds very middle class stw wanktastic (Oooo – get you! – geting your olive oil from a small hand pressed olive grove?) but it’s not like that, her family are living on an absolute pittance like so many of her friends out there and they make all their income from the farm and olives and i give her cash to bring me some back and the money goes to her family.

cheers Rusty. that’s the kind of gen.
shall stroke my beard and read it.

After the 1st taste its no longer virgin 😀

It’s all about the rapeseed oil here too. Give it a try. British product too.

Bob on that about the flavour, we’ve had our own olives pressed. We get first pressing , which really is the good stuff , and is lovely mopped up with a a bit of bread, the mill keeps the rest and presses it again, boils it and whatever else it does to extract the oil.

either Aldi’s Bio own or we nick a bottle from the father-in-law. he comes back each year from Italy with a 10ltr cannister of the stuff from some farmer he has been buying it off since before the GF (his daughter) was around…

on a similar note the GF and I were out for a meal a few weeks back. we had a salad and used some of the balsamico. it was so nice that the GF asked where you can buy it. the guy grinned and said “only here”. cost us 12€ for a 300ml bottle. i’m scared to use the stuff now….

There was a consumer programme on French TV on this subject. The verdict was that all “extra virgin” oils were fine and it is simply a question of choosing the one you like the taste of. You might even prefer “virgin” oils if you prefer a bit of acidity. They did some tastings and the supermarket brands came out very well (the Leclerc own brand won).

My personal favourite is Primadonna Spanish extra virgin from Lidl. #runs for cover# I’ve tried expensive Italian ones (and the Lidl Italian one) but they have a bit too much taste for splashing on foods with subtle flavours.

:wanders off to kitchen:

Belazu Catalonian Arbequina for drizzling on pasta, salads, veg, potatoes, etc.
tastes bloody lovely. I could drink it out the bottle.

Hellooooo, cheeky!

Currently getting through some of this: http://stroudgreenoliveoil.blogspot.co.uk/ which is very nice. Local guy who has a farm in Italy.

Stoner sweetie, coconut oil is where it’s at. 🙂

Stoner sweetie, coconut oil is where it’s at.

Look, if you want to use the forum for “Personal ads”, could you at least use the Classifieds? Thanks.

CFH, is that aftershave?

I think O’Flashearty’s company make the presentation cases.

The Italians and Spanish think it’s quite hilarious pretentious Brits will spend £5 and more on a small bottle of olive oil, when they practically bathe in the stuff. The fancy bottles probably often cost more to produce than the oil itself.

cost us 12€ for a 300ml bottle.

Did this guy sell it to you?

http://stroudgreenoliveoil.blogspot.co.uk/

No way! I suppose the paupers of Stroud Green have to make a living somehow! 😆

I will be bringing a quite few litres of the taggiasca olive oil (the smaller darker but amazing flavour olives and cnsidered the best) to the uk this summer, it will be first press.

These are harvested by my neighbours her in Italy.

I have seen litre bottles go for £30 plus in borough market in london

I spent a summer studying in Florence, i was lucky to stay in a farmhouse owned by the Ferragamo family. There was a tiny fattoria just up the road which sold fresh daily produce and it’s own freshly pressed olive oil. It was sublime. It doesn’t keep, which was no hardship as we’d get through a bottle a week. Nothing I’ve tasted since has compared, that I’m pleased about as it gives me the excuse to go back for some more.

I’ve tried some that Valvona & Crolla recommended but they never came close. Lidl offerings are easily as good.

Racalia.com

My parents used to go out and help with the harvest, so my brother and I used to raid the stock they were given. Doesn’t always taste the same every year, but always good, and the bag in box means it lasts better…

Rapeseed oil here. Grown and pressed just a few miles away. None of the foreign olive muck.

Aldi or Lidl were the recommendations from the Italian grandmother when she was alive. She wasn’t wrong.

I’ve just spoke to sisi regarding her family’s oil as i mentioned above, If you’re interested it is a Cretian Koroneiki olive, it’s worth trying to find a first press oil that uses it as it’s rather nice wi crusty herby bread.

Have a look here at the Olive times for info on olive oils

Stoner sweetie,

We’ll have none of your posts intended to provoke a sexual response. thank you CG or you may find your post reported 😯

I shall grab something from Lidl next time Im going past and try and find some local rapeseed oil too for comparison then.

Thank you STW, my faith in your middleclassness is reborn. I knew all that working class leftie angst was just for show.

for me the thing with super expensive olive oil is it’s not worth using it for most cooking, I don’t do much that needs dressing, and I prefer butter on my bread to dipping, so it stays in the cupboard where I forget about it for years.

rapeseed oil is more versatile

Thank you STW, my faith in your middleclassness is reborn. I knew all that working class leftie angst was just for show.

Yep, keep thinking that when we turn your handbuilt organic yurt into a tractor factory, sunshine.

😀

does the rapeseed have that fresh and peppery taste of olive though?

If anything it seems smoother & richer. Maybe not quite as peppery, but I’ve only tried 2 different types. It’s definitely fresh tasting.

It’s relatively healthy stuff, with 7% saturated fat compared to 14% in olive oil or 51% in butter. It’s also high in those trendy and generally misunderstood compounds, omega-3 and omega-6. If a retailer bothers to list the provenance, it’s likely to be British. Unlike olive oil, rapeseed doesn’t go toxic at high heat

From the Grauniad’s food section. Didn’t realise the benefits, it was just served with bread when I was out for dinner with my ladyfriend and we both loved it.

Yet another vote for rapeseed oil from me. Especially when cooking – it’s really, really tasty but then I’ve never been a fan of frying with olive oil.

Stoner trying to pull earlier (skip to ~0.40)

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRchACvj60[/video]

for frying Im mainly a butter man (I mean what kind of weirdo fries bacon in olive oil?) Stir fry I use toasted sesame mixed with a generic veg oil. Olive oil in our house is mainly for dressing or occasionally meat rubs.

Anyone tried it as a chain lube?

Anyone tried it as a chain lube?

Butter? Are you mad man?