Olive Oil reccommendations please...

Beller81

Hi All,

Can anybody suggest a nice light extra virgin olive oil? At the moment, I am using Marks and Spencers Italien extra virgin oil but it has a domineering flavour.

Thanks in advance,

Laura

the beer revolu

EVOO, by is, by it's nature a pretty robust flavoured olive oil.
Maybe what you're looking for is not extra virgin.
I think there is a commonly available olive oil that is sold as being very light in flavour. It's one of the big brands iirc.

calistro

I've a small amount of last years pressing left and I can send you a bottle to try. Heading over at Xmas for the harvest and if you like it I can bring you back some more.

See my earlier post:

calistro wrote: »

I have a small (4 acre) Olive grove in southern Spain where after 4 years of renovating the delapidated olive groves we got our first harvest of 600Kg (miniscule amount). This year we hope to have a harvest of approx. 1200kgs. Our olives are certified organic and together with other small farmers in the area we get our olives pressed and bottled in our local co-op www.agrocastril.com.
100% Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I still live in Ireland (thank you recession) but travel back and forth during the year to keep the grove and farmhouse running. The oil is nothing like what is available in supermarkets here, I have it on my toast most mornings and it has a slight peppery taste, amazing as a salad dressing and extremely good for your system.

olaola

I use the Lidl olive oil for every day - http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.tat.o.Extra_Virgin_Olive_Oil

As recommended by Which? mag

unkel

olaola wrote: »

I use the Lidl olive oil for every day - http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.tat.o.Extra_Virgin_Olive_Oil

As recommended by Which? mag

Me too

It's ok and according to Which?, it is better than any of the other budget supermarket olive oils they tested. And I think I paid €1.99 for 750ml in a sale the last time. Hard to beat that price

But as the OP, I'd like to hear recommendations for very good olive oil, maybe up to €10 or even €20 for a bottle, just for occasional use. Are they worth it?

olaola

I like the Avoca own brand one - the one that's covered in gold foil, for use as a condiment. The flavour is nice, not too 'green'.

the beer revolu

olaola wrote: »

I use the Lidl olive oil for every day - http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.o.tat.o.Extra_Virgin_Olive_Oil

As recommended by Which? mag

+1

Minder

I recall Matt Moran (Celebrity Chef at Aria in Sydney) saying on Masterchef Australia that most EVOO will go off in about 6 weeks of opening. That's a worrying little nugget of information given that Estate Bottled EVOOs sell at such a premium. Callistro - do you have any recommendations for keeping EVOO? I suppose like any traditional commodity where the shelf life isn't prolonged artifically through the addition of chemicals, they should be used up reasonably quickly.

Beller81

Hi everyone,

The lidl oil seems to get good reviews by the looks of it.
Calistro thank you so much for your kind offer. I would love to try your oil! I will send you an stamped padded envelope if you want to PM me your address. Thanks again everyone for the great suggestions!

calistro

Minder wrote: »

I recall Matt Moran (Celebrity Chef at Aria in Sydney) saying on Masterchef Australia that most EVOO will go off in about 6 weeks of opening. That's a worrying little nugget of information given that Estate Bottled EVOOs sell at such a premium. Callistro - do you have any recommendations for keeping EVOO? I suppose like any traditional commodity where the shelf life isn't prolonged artifically through the addition of chemicals, they should be used up reasonably quickly.

TBH I've never encountered EVOO going off in that amount of time and I would suspect storage conditions would have a lot to do with it. Air, heat and light all effect olive oil and will cause it to go rancid quickly. If you keep your oil in a cool press or a shady part of your kitchen/worktop which keeps a constant temperature there is no reason an opened bottle should not last for at least 3 months and properly re-sealed will last way longer. Cold will effect the olive oil by causing it to congeal and cloud over but it will return to its normal state once it reaches room temperature again. It's possible to freeze olive oil also, you will get the same effect as above.
One tip when buying any quality extra virgin olive oil is to check acidity level, which must be under 1% to qualify as EVOO but you won't find too many producers listing this on their bottles.

the beer revolu

I came across cold pressed extra virgin Irish organic rapeseed oil the other day.
VERY tasty - more nutty than olive oil. YUmm.
Don't know where it can be bought though.

calistro

calistro wrote: »

I've a small amount of last years pressing left and I can send you a bottle to try. Heading over at Xmas for the harvest and if you like it I can bring you back some more.

See my earlier post:

Just back last night from this years harvest. The arms are falling off of me now as we have to "milk" the olives from the tree using long poles but worth it in the end. Harvested over a thousand kilos this year and it seems the years of pruning and irrigation are finally paying off although the price per kilo of olives from the co-operatives is very poor at the moment. I've brought back 10 x 1L bottles all organic extra virgin olive oil if anyone is interested you can pm me.

duploelabs

If you get a chance from a specialty shop, get a taste of the new season oil that would've come out about 2 months ago. Virulent green and tastes like a mix between liquid pepper and wheatgrass

Kewreeuss

I buy the lidl olive oil, I like the strong flavour of it.
Like a lot of things, taste is also a question of habit, so if you are used to a strong oil, you may not like a milder one.
I find a rapeseed or peanut oil fine for light frying, but I don't think I've ever seen peanut oil here. I get friends to bring it back from italy as it's used a fair bit there.
That bit about oil going off sounds very strange. If kept in the kitchen press in dark bottle, it will keep fine. If you keep it in a cold pantry it may begin to solidify, but it's not a problem.
The only thing I can add about the economical oil, is that like some wines, it may be pressed from olives from more than one area and may even be blended somewhere else. You just have to assume that they're all good. I think you can trick around more with wine though, than you can with olive oil.
I can understand why one would pay more for a bottle of oil coming from the one mill or the one olive farm, traceablility and all that, but like wine, go with what you like, not the marketting.

Kewreeuss

sorry, forgot to mention, we should be using this season's oil. The olives that were pressed last november, I mean.

DonnieScribbles

Kewreeuss wrote: »

I find a rapeseed or peanut oil fine for light frying, but I don't think I've ever seen peanut oil here. I get friends to bring it back from italy as it's used a fair bit there.

You can occasionally get peanut oil in Aldi when they have it on special. Just keep an eye out for it I suppose. It's usually when they have some kind of Asian food promotion on.

123beguiled

Beller81, all posts are relevant, and it istrue thet EVOO although the best as a dressing it is not the best for general cooking is as it heats at a different consistancy.
The best advice I could give you ids to visit your local Italian deli and buy their recommended Virgin or later pressing's as well as not so overpowering a flavour in a 5 litre can as Olive Oil deteriorates when exposed to sunlight...

Minder

Peanut oil is also known as groundnut oil - common is most supermarkets.

Whether refined or not, all oils are sensitive to heat, light, and exposure to oxygen. Rancid oil has an unpleasant aroma and acrid taste, and its nutrient value is greatly diminished. To delay the development of rancid oil, a blanket of an inert gas, usually nitrogen, is applied to the vapor space in the storage container immediately after production. This is referred to as tank blanketing. Vitamin E oil is a natural antioxidant that can also be added to cooking oils to prevent rancidification.

All oils should be kept in a cool, dry place. Oils may thicken, they will soon return to liquid if they stand at room temperature. To prevent negative effects of heat and light, oils should be removed from cold storage just long enough for use. Refined oils high in monounsaturated fats keep up to a year (olive oil will keep up to a few years), while those high in polyunsaturated fats keep about six months. Extra-virgin and virgin olive oils keep at least 9 months after opening. Other monounsaturated oils keep well up to eight months, while unrefined polyunsaturated oils will keep only about half as long.

In contrast, saturated oils, such as coconut oil and palm oil, have much longer shelf lives and can be safely stored at room temperature. Their lack of polyunsaturated content causes them to be more stable.

So EVOO will keep for 9 months once opened if stored correctly. Matt Moran's point is people will buy a single estate bottled EVOO and keep it on the countertop with the salt & pepper mills and the other condiments. Result is it's often rancid because it's not used up quickly. Nut oils (Walnut, Hazelnut and Pistachio) will spoil even quicker than EVOO. As will Seasme oil.

Minder

Tesco Groundnut (Peanut) Oil