What's a good olive oil metric?

Good olive oil should be green, not yellow.

My mom always said extra virgin is the way to go if you’re not sure. :)
We always buy the one in the metal cans with the plastic plug on top, because light screws up the oil big time.

P.S. I love your new avatar. And the file name. Hehehe.

@all: Any specific recommendations?

Lemme look in the kitchen. :D
Ah, we just moved, it’s missing. But it comes in a olive drab colored metal container, clear plug on top and fancy black filigree all over, I think about 64oz. You can find it in most grocery stores or some that are very similar. Good luck, sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.

And make sure you store it in the cabinet, we always store it in the bottom cabinets, less heat near the floor and in the dark. :)

Cold press extra virgin olive oil is what I would get. I also have found that the best tasting wasn’t from Italy, but from Spain of all things. Yeah that taste test surprised me too.

My mom lives in Italy, and I’m here now.. I like to think I know a little something about good olive oil. :P

The last one I bought was Giant Eagle Market District brand, of all things. It’s actually quite good and the cheapest good one of the lot. Just because it’s from Italy doesn’t make it good; since you’re shopping in the U.S., lots of people don’t know and buy the crappy ones, so as you can imagine, companies buy cheap olive oil, mark it up, and make money off of it. You do want to look to make sure it’s green.

I've been reviewing olive oils for the last two years over at ILoveOliveOilBlog.com, so if anyone's looking for some great oils to try, please check out my list. Some you have to order online, others you may find in your local market or gourmet shop.

If you’re lucky to live in certain parts of the U.S., you may live near a store where fresh olive oil is sold “on tap”—meaning you can fill a bottle or jug up. (I also have a list of such stores on the site.) Such olive oil usually tastes fresher, because olive oil stored in bulk keeps better (the less exposure to light and air, the better, until it reaches your kitchen.)

Always strive to find the freshest possible oil—if the label says the oil was produced more than a year ago, there’s a good chance the oil won’t be that good. Avoid oils that are two years old or more. It’s not like wine—olive oil does not get better with age.

Good luck with your olive oil hunting! Costas

Only on Fluther would an olive oil blogger be on hand to answer this question.

This is true.. I had the same thought. :)

That’s why we love it, tonedef. That’s why we lurve it.

@AlenaD That is so not fair! Just being in that part of the world means you can get such Primo Olive Oil. You should just ship Andrew a few liters, or 10 or 20. heehee

My parents recently visited an olive oil mill in Italy and learned that there is quite a lot of fraud in the olive oil industry, including diluting olive oil with other vegetable oil and selling inferior oil in bottles with expensive labels. One way to make sure you are not being duped is to check the label for the name and address of the mill where the oil was pressed. If you can’t find such a name and address, there is a chance the oil is not what it claims to be.

I loooove our local vendor here in Berkeley: Stonehouse (www.stonehouseoliveoil.com). The roasted garlic olive oil is divine.

Another thought is to check cooksillustrated.com for their taste tests. They just did another and it was on both supermarket oils and expensive ones. For the second year in a row Spanish won over Italian by a large margin. I will try to see if I can find the brands.

Ok, so first is Columela, Lucini Italia Premium select, and then Colavita extra virgin. You could also try Coeur D’Alene olive oil company. That have garlic, lemon, and a few others. They are way awesome. I’m a bit late, but hey, I tried!

@stevenb No, that’s great!