We really like a brand called 'Oveja Negra' down here, it's made by the same company that produces great Chilean wine.

I expect that at some time soon, our local wine retailer will (unsuccessfully) try to sell olive oils. Probably boutique imports with a local 'winemaker' variety thrown in.

The only way I could see it working out for them would be that they include an oil & bread alongside wines at their weekly tastings.
I still have my doubts but if the oils are clearly tastier than supermarket offerings, they will sell.

BTW the nation's largest (and dysfunctional) retailer is selling Spain's Carbonell brand EV 4L for $20 as a promotion instead of $40+; hard to beat!

Kirkland - the store brand at Costco gets high marks from both Consumer Reports and Mrs Scubadiver. However I noticed that the bottles no longer say "Tuscanny." I hope the green eyeshades haven't cheapened the product for an extra penny profit.

Extra virgin with balsamic vinegar, and dunk bread in it. Yum.

Mmmmm. Lebanese or Palestinian, preferably homemade. If not available, local brands like al-Dayaa olive oil from Lebanon.

I've not seen Lebanese olive oil here, even though my area has a lot of migrants from there in the 1970s.

Had this one on our SQ flight from CMB yesterday:
Colavita Italian EV olive oil.
‘Obtained exclusively from olives harvested in Italy’

There's an olive oil tasting bar at Fairway Markets here in the city, and I'm enjoying working my way through their store-bottled assortment. Off the top of my head--they have oils from several regions in Italy, Spain, Greece, France, California, and Australia. For a while I was buying a nice peppery oil from Puglia, but I think my current oil is Spanish. The oils are sold in 1-liter bottles, and I decant a liter to share with my significant other. We refrigerate most of the oil so it doesn't go rancid if it's around for more than a couple of months.

A while ago I tried a California oil from Trader Joe but wasn't terribly impressed.

Fornebufox, you need not refrigerate your olive oil if you want it to keep. Either place it in a dark glass bottle and keep it away from light and especially sunlight or put it in a clean stainless steal container (that way it can be left on the counter). We receive hundreds of liters of olive oil every year (our household consumes a lot of it on a daily basis) and it keeps for years as long as it's stored correctly and away from sunlight. Just an FYI from someone who lives in a country that has some of the BEST olive oil out there (IMHO) :D.

I recently heard (could have been on "The Splendid Table") that you should think about the season of the year when picking an olive oil. I don't remember the details well, so if someone can set me straight on this, I'd appreciate it. What I think I remember is something about the harvesting and bottling times in the northern and southern hemispheres. Unless I have it mixed up, you get a fresher olive oil by buying from your own hemisphere in the summer, and the other hemisphere in the winter.

That makes alot of sense. The harvest in Europe is from late October to January aprox.

I guess that in the Southern hemisphere that would at a different time of the year.

For freshness check if the bottles indicate the year of harvest. Bottling old oil or freshning old oil with some of the new is not that uncommon.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.2.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I visited an olive plantation near napa, one hour north of san francisco. It's called mcevoy ranch. You should check out the tour and olive oil tasting. You can also pick up a batch for yourself. Very north italian in flavor.

Have you tried any interesting olive oil at an airport tasting?
 

Just in case you did try an oil tasting (through having time to kill or no lounge access?)...

• Was the product or products anything special or not normally found in that city?
• Did you remember it and buy it elsewhere?

I will add another good new local release to this list, soon.

Now about that Olive Oil place...

Sydney's Good Living supplement in SMH noted the opening of a new Italian & Australian olive oil specialty shop - at Strand Arcade, so perfect for anyone here who is staying in a Sydney hotel.

L'Oiloteca
Lvl2, Strand Arcade, Sydney
(i.e. a couple of blocks north of QVB/Town Hall or south of Martin Place/Wynyard)
Who: Nino Zoccali (ex- Otto exec chef)
What: Hand-poured oil - Italian & Australian specialty oils, in recyclable, 1L amber bottles.

This is in addition to a cafe (by day) / wine bar (after work) , plus a restaurant. (Cafe & Restaurant Pendolino).

This weekend's Melbourne trip (to many wineries in three regions in Victoria) we did notice a few olive plantations amongst the grape vines. ;)

Best olive oils, Italy, especially if you buy single estate oils. Some of the best of Italy comes from Umbria. Try an "unfiltered" fresh harvest oil. That is what REAL olive oil is supposed to taste like. No light oils, no prostititions from Turkey, Lebonon, etc if you want the best. The purest oils are those that are "drip processed", not pressed at all, the oil just drips out of the olives after a rough chopping!
The saying is: do not worry about storage as you should consume a quart of oil in a month or less.

Woods Creek Olive Co.
 

I was given a bottle of Woods Creek Extra Virgin Olive Oil as a Holiday gift.
I'm hoooked!

http://www.oliveoilsource.com

I'm always torn about buying nice olive oil vs. regular olive oil - but after reading some of your responses, I'm thinking I need to step it up a few notches.

I am very partial to Italian oil, out of some sort of patriotism for a country I wasn't even born in.

Seriously, I love Italian oil. For EV, I get the freshest I can from DiPalo's on Grand in NYC, which also provides me with most other Italian food products I need.

Sometimes for cooking I'll use Light OO, as it has a higher smoke point.

The best olive oil for dipping etc,I bought in Lucca,Italy

The price of olive oil has shot up following a drought in the Mediterranean, with the global price of oil hitting $6,000 per metric ton, the highest level since 1997. Last year the same metric ton of olive oil could be had for a little north of $4,000, so it’s a significant squeeze. Spain typically produces over a million tons of olive oil a year, but this year produced half that, while Italy’s in the worst drought in 70 years and saw its production decline 37 percent to 208,000 tons. Turkey and Greece are each attempting to increase production — Turkey produced 400,000 tons last year, up from 228,000 tons the year prior — but those of us who live in Greek neighborhoods of Queens can feel the panic in the air.

Clarisa Diaz, Quartz

https://www.numlock.com/p/numlock-news-may-10-2023-stinknet

Yikes
FWIW, I have had some favorite olive oils that were from California but those prices have likely gone up too.
Is there a favorite balsamic thread? I am looking for a new one that doesn't cost $25 a bottle--around $10-15 max.

Although you've polluted the oil thread with vinegar, I get most of mine at https://amphoranueva.com/berkeley/ - 750ml for $21, and smaller bottles for less. The selection and flavo(u)rs are great. I'd expect you'll find someplace similar in So Cal that uses the same supplier.

Once you try try organic oil from Tuscany you will never go back. And its cheap also.

My last 3 bottles have been this. Maybe a little on the light side very inexpensive.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...a886703466.jpg

I can buy the generic supermarket Australian olive oil for AU$9.30/litre so about US$6.20. The base Spanish olive oil is AU$9.50/litre. Seems unlikely they are selling olive oil at a loss in the supermarket. Hard to reconcile the prices being quoted in the article with the prices I see.

First of all, you're likely buying oil from the harvest of either of the past two years. Second, you're buying oil that probably already had a contract price that isn't affected by today's price.

But the price rises have happened. In Europe they're complaining that the price of olive oil has gone from €2.50 to €5 a litre which is about US$5.40 litre. Again that is what consumers are paying not what the spot wholesale price is. I guess the question really is why is olive oil so expensive in the US right now?

Four Seasons Marrakech has numerous olive trees on premises , some a few hundred years old ;)
Olive oil served is from her own trees

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...93c46d0d3.jpeg
Bottle of olive oil from FS ‘ own olive trees !

Currently in Crete, and have been for almost a month... We've been enjoying so much olive oil! Our AirBnB host even brought us a bottle they said was pressed by them... Who knows if that is true or not, but it is freakin delicious!

This is one of those threads that has brought me and my family much, much joy and satisfaction over the years.

I was turned on to the Coosur brand by alanw and it ticked all the boxes for me, particularly with their single variety offerings. Goodness knows how many litres we’ve gone through as a result of the recommendation.

We all have some kind of sensitivity in the house (I have IBS), so we never cook with garlic or onions.

This was a big bummer until we discovered flavour infused extra virgin olive oils. With the infusion you get all the flavour and none of the triggers. For us it's basically like magic.

Our favorite is back in stock. In past years, it sold out during the presale and wasn't available again until after the next year's harvest.

It's produced exclusively from Tzuri olives grown in the upper Galilee by spicemaster Lior Lev Sercarz' father. The oil is unfiltered and has a rich body and herbaceous flavor and a peppery finish.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...5312c1a00c.jpghttps://www.laboiteny.com/products/olive-oil-glass

I bought a bottle of Californias own olive oil at just over $15. It was excellent but, I get through the stuff so quickly I can't justify using it all the time. I just bought some oil from Aldi for a few cents over $5. It's not quite as richly flavoured but is awesome value for money.