Olive oil question

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callmaker60

Senior Cook
Joined
Dec 8, 2012
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229
Location
Camp Hill, Pa.
I like eating and cooking with olive oil. I always buy the extra virgin kind. I have tried many different brands but find them all taste the same, yet their prices range from$6 up. Am I missing something, they all taste the same to me. from the cheapest to the expensive.
 
I can't speak for EVOO made from American grown olives but generally over here Spanish, Greek and Italian taste different to me. They can vary in strength of flavour too.


Buy what you like best. There is a lot of preciousness about EVOO but I doubt your friends and family are going to judge you on the basis of your olive oil,
 
If you're heating olive oil all of the great nuances are lost.

Around here the good stuff is to finish a dish (a drizzle in your soup, across the top of your hummus, etc.), for salad dressings, for marinating vegetables, or for anything else that isn't cooked.

Butter / ghee or coconut oil are the things I use to saute. I don't deep fat fry anything so can't even offer an alternative for that.
 
Good point, Z. I meant to make that distinction but forgot. I use Bertolli for cooking and evoo from the specialty store for everything else. I don't deep-fry either.
 
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Problem is that sometimes here we do not get pure oil, i mean from one source. You see it on the bottle a lot: "made from Spanish, Italian, etc. oil"
 
I have noticed, but I need to look more at the labels. Like the bottle I have now Cento brand, Pure olive oil, then on the label it says packed in Italy, oil from italy and spain. Next time I buy some, I look at the labels a lot closer.
 
The oils in the grocery stores are typically blends, which are fine for cooking. If you want high-quality extra virgin olive oil, you will need to find a specialty store.
 
The oils in the grocery stores are typically blends, which are fine for cooking. If you want high-quality extra virgin olive oil, you will need to find a specialty store.

I've found that I can get reasonable olive oil in the large (3 liter?) cans at one of the Italian markets in Denver. I really don't know if it's pure Italian or not, as I don't have any at the moment, but it was expensive enough that it could have been stored in a vault. :wacko:
 
Isn't it so that if the oil is bottled in Italy, it needn't say what other EU country the oil might be from?

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Is anyone paying attention to the 'warnings' that heating EVOO to frying temperatures is not a healthy thing to do?
 
Isn't it so that if the oil is bottled in Italy, it needn't say what other EU country the oil might be from?

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Is anyone paying attention to the 'warnings' that heating EVOO to frying temperatures is not a healthy thing to do?

Most of the oils, cheeses, canned tomato, etc. we purchase have a label that states "product of", not "bottled in, packaged in".;)

I would never "deep fry" with olive oil, but will certainly use it to saute.
 
"Most of the oils, cheeses, canned tomato, etc. we purchase have a label that states "product of", not "bottled in, packaged in"."

The post was from EU so I was commenting that here in EU I think it is not necessary to tell the specific country of origin if the product is from a EU country - so if bottled in Italy, the label need not say more if the oil is of EU origin.

I don't know how specific the US labels need to be.


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As for EVOO and high heat, the thought is that even with shallow frying, the temperature is sufficient to produce undesirable side products - I was just wondering if people are paying attention to this caution.
 
As for EVOO and high heat, the thought is that even with shallow frying, the temperature is sufficient to produce undesirable side products - I was just wondering if people are paying attention to this caution.

I haven't heard much about this. Do you have a reference with further information?
 
The article only describes damage to the phenols present, it does not make it unsafe for human consumption and WHF would make that distinction if it was needed. Basically you are not getting the healthy components of the oil, but it is not harmful either.
 
The article only describes damage to the phenols present, it does not make it unsafe for human consumption and WHF would make that distinction if it was needed. Basically you are not getting the healthy components of the oil, but it is not harmful either.

That's what I got from it too. If it was truly hazardous, I have to think that the FDA would require warnings on the label.

Overdoing the sear on a steak can create a carcinogen crust (worst example of this I ever saw was when my wife took me to Mortons in Denver - probably the most expensive and worst tasting burnt steak I ever tried to eat), but proper cooking, even when grilling, is not harmful - at least, no more than what red meat is considered normally. ;)
 
Olive oil is bad for you only if it has exceeded it's smoke point temperature.

EVOO has a lower smoke point than regular olive oil which is why some prefer using the latter (or another type of vegetable oil) when using high heat.
 
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