The Beauty of Olive Oil 101
Olive oil is made from the fruit of the olive tree, which is native to the Mediterranean region. The oil is extracted from the fruit by pressing it or using other mechanical methods.
How to Use Olive Oil
- Salad Dressing… Olive oil is a classic ingredient in salad dressings. Combine it with vinegar or lemon juice and herbs to create a delicious, heathy topping for your salad.
- Cooking…Olive oil is ideal for cooking, perfect for sautéeing vegetables or frying eggs.
- Dipping…Just simply use it as a dip for bread. Place olive oil in a dish with a little dab of balsamic and a crack of pepper.
- Marinade…Use olive oil as a base for marinading meat, fish, or vegetables. Add some garlic, lemon juice and herbs.
- Baking: Olive oil can be used in baking in place of butter or other oils. Really nice in savory loaves of bread and muffins.
What pairs well with Olive Oil
- Tomatoes: The acidity of tomatoes pairs well with the fruity flavor of olive oil. Try using it in a classic tomato salad or as a topping for bruschetta.
- Pasta: Olive oil is a great substitute for heavy cream sauces in pasta dishes. Combine it with garlic, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan cheese for a simple and delicious pasta dish.
- Roasted Vegetables: Toss your favorite vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them in the oven for a healthy and flavorful side dish.
- Fish: Olive oil pairs well with fish, especially when combined with lemon juice and herbs. Use it as a marinade or simply drizzle it over grilled or baked fish.
- Bread: As mentioned before, olive oil is a great dip for bread. It’s also delicious when used as a topping for garlic bread or pizza crust.
Extra-Virgin or Bust
“Extra-virgin” is the highest designation of quality given to olive oil, meaning it’s unrefined, free of chemicals and other “defects” like rancidity, and never treated with heat. Quality can still vary within the extra-virgin category, but without intimate preexisting knowledge of individual olive oil brands, it’s as close as you’re going to get to an overall guarantee of purity you can get off a label. Look for those two words, and you’ve already eliminated a vast array of crappy bottles.
Stay Away From the “Light”
Oil is, by definition, 100% fat—there is no such thing as a “low fat” olive oil. “Light olive oil” is a misnomer and a marketing ploy that actually means the oil has been refined and treated with heat to strip away odor and flavor. If you’re looking for an oil that doesn’t taste or smell like anything, you’re better off buying a cheap neutral oil like peanut or grapeseed.
Read the Fine Print:
Be skeptical of suspiciously inexpensive oils labeled “Product of Italy.” It’s likely that the olives themselves weren’t grown or pressed there. Companies are required to label an oil’s source, but that could just mean where it gets put into bottles—a loophole that allows disingenuous producers to buy lousy, defective oil from all around the world and pretend it is from Italy. Look carefully on the back label for the initials of the true country of origin: IT for Italy, GR for Greece, etc. As a rule of thumb, you’re better off buying olive oil that comes from a single place—ideally one farm or collective, but at the very least one country.
Color Is Key (But Not Where You Think)
It’s a myth that the darker and greener an oil, the higher the quality. That said, you shouldn’t even be able to tell the color of an oil from the bottle: The bottle itself should be opaque, made of either dark glass or metal. Contrary to what most people think, olive oil actually goes bad fairly quickly, and exposure to light and heat will make the quality deteriorate even more quickly. A company that cares about the quality of its product isn’t going to put olive oil in a clear glass bottle, ever.
