boltonblue

I went to go buy some olive oil tonight but the BJ's warehouse store didn't have berio olive oil.
I had heard rumors a but read some articles of late about the great extra virgin olive oil fraud.
It seems the mafia was doing a rather clever switcheroo of regional oils i.e. not Italian oil, heck not even olive oil and playing with the chemistry set to get it close.

of course the price of real olive oil has doubled.

grrr maybe I'll have to switch to mobil one or something.

maybe it's time to buy american or something.

Emil St-Hilaire

Remember Vito Corleone ???

tof

I have also read and heard about the olive oil scandal. And I noticed that the latest bottle of Bertolli Extra Virgin that I brought home was distinctly lighter in color than the one that was already in the pantry. A little research uncovered a report released by the UC Davis Olive Center that indicated a strong likelihood that Bertolli, along with several other brands, failed to meet testers' expectations of the Extra Virgin classification. I think this is the root of most of the recent reporting on "fake" extra virgin olive oil.

This report was actually released in 2011, so this is not exactly news. And the report did not indicate that the oils tested were anything other than pure olive oil. Rather it was the quality and flavor of the oils that were examined.

Of course I have not read Tom Mueller's book, Extra Virginity. Apparently this was a tell-all that revealed the hand of the Mafia in adulterating EVOO.

MsPerky

I am just finishing up a bottle of Berio EVOO. And bought a bottle of Pompeian the other day. I looked at the countries where the olives came from for the two bottles. Berio - Italy, Spain, Greece and Tunisia. Pompeian - Tunisia, Chile, Argentina and Greece. There seems to be this impression that olives not from Italy are inferior. I'm not enough of an expert to know.

tof

One thing I read is to look for a harvest date on the bottle. Lower quality oil won't even have such a date. But when a date is found, it should be reasonably recent. (within the last few weeks, maybe?)

Headchef

Look to California olive oil. Many available on Amazon prime-you can have it in two days.

S2KRAY

Make him an offer for some on the day of his daughter's wedding. He can't refuse.

boltonblue

My recollection is the last bottle of Berio was around $20.
it's on amazon now at $34. so I suspect they were guilty of dilution as well.
I fear the days of cheap ( if only an illusion) EVOO are over.
I've started looking at American producers. Hah!! so much for cheap alternatives.
On the flip side, I guess I can look forward to discovering which oils I like and which ones I don't.
Much like wines and scotch it seems there is an incredibly wide array of options.
and all of those magical terms like like " notes of cherry and chocolate" and "aromas of green grass with a strong finish. "
of course which don't mean $^%& to me.

Time to get out the spider chart.
I noticed the other day I had 6 different kinds of vinegar in the cabinet.
I probably have at least 5 different mustard mixes in the fridge and 4 or 5 different styles of peppercorns.
I guess it's time to crank up the olive oil selections.

kgf3076

You want the youngest olive oil you can buy. As the oil ages, it's taste changes to the point where eventually, there will be no taste. We buy our olive oil from an Italian grocer who opened a restaurant/grocery store here in Alexandria, the first one not in Italy.
Nothing better than freshly pressed olive oil and nothing like waking up in Gioia Tauro and looking out a window at breakfast at hillsides covered with olive trees.