Like most people who pretend to the least bit of knowledge of olive oil, I am constantly asked what my favorite is, what one should buy, what’s the best, and what’s a good deal. It was in part to answer these kinds of questions that I set out to write this book. And I have to confess, at the end, there are no easy answers.
American consumers are used to having what they want when they want it, where they want it, and at a price they can afford. Many of the reasons why this is difficult with fine extra-virgin olive oil are detailed elsewhere in the book, but one stands out: Most of these oils are made by very small producers with limited distribution, and exported and distributed in small quantities as compared to big industrial oil companies. Thus, a first-rate oil in a Boston specialty foods shop just might not be available in San Francisco, say, or Seattle or Toronto. And for people in more remote areas, it may be even more difficult. Fortunately, the Internet presents a constantly growing solution to the problem of access. Even Amazon.com offers a huge gamut of olive oils from all over the world. I don’t actually approve of the site, however, because of a distressingly cavalier attitude toward important questions like harvest date.
Di Palo Fine Foods
200 Grand Street
New York, NY
212-226-1033
(100 percent Italian)
Market Hall Foods
5655 College Avenue
Oakland, CA
510-250-6000; 888-952-4005
(especially good for California oils)
Olio2go
8400 Hilltop Rd, Suite H
Fairfax, VA
866-654-6246 (866-OLIO2GO)
(another 100 percent Italian source)
Note: www.manicaretti.com and www.therogerscollection.com are two importers of fine olive oils who supply retail outlets; information is available on their websites about where to find specific oils.
For all-purpose cooking oils, there are a number of good ones, sold in 3- or 5-liter tins at acceptable prices, ones that won’t evaporate the household budget if you use them with a fairly lavish hand. Among ones I would recommend are:
The following is a list of finer olive oil brands, including estates and producers, many of whom make more than one brand.[1] Keep in mind that not every oil listed below will be widely available in North America, and that there is no guarantee the oils will have been correctly maintained in an undamaged state once the producer has shipped them.
1. I don’t mean to suggest that oils not on this list are in any way defective, simply that I have not personally experienced them.
Two websites of special interest, with frequently updated information about extra-virgin olive oil:
Anderson, Burton. Treasures of the Italian Table. New York: William Morrow, 1994.
Capano, Giuseppe, & Luigi Caricato. Olio: crudo e cotto. Milano: Tecniche Nuove, 2012.
Chatterton, Brian. Growing Olives for Quality Oil. Kindle edition: Pulcini Press, 2011.
________. Inside the Olive Jar. Kindle edition: Pulcini Press, 2012.
Columella, Lucius Iunius Moderato. De Re Rustica, Book V. Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1954.
Counihan, Carole M. Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family, and Gender in Twentieth-Century Florence. Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2004.
Dalby, Andrew. Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece. London & New York: Routledge, 1997.
Dalby, Andrew, and Sally Grainger. The Classical Cookbook. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1996.
Delgado, Claudia, and Jean-Xavier Guinart. “How do consumer hedonic ratings for extra virgin olive oil relate to quality ratings by experts and descriptive analysis ratings?” Food Quality and Preference, vol. 22:2, pp. 213–225, March 2011.
Eitam, David, “Olive Culture in Ancient Israel,” www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000008705.htm.
Frankel, Rafael, Shmuel Avitsur, and Etan Ayalon. History and Technology of Olive Oil in the Holy Land. Tel Aviv and Arlington, VA: Olearius Editions, 1994.
Friedrich, W. L. Report for the Second International Scientific Congress on Santorini, Thera and the Aegean World, published 1980 (www.therafoun dation.org/articles/environmentflorafauna/fossilplantsfromweichselianinterstadialssant rinigreeceii).
Gage, Fran. The New American Olive Oil. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2009.
Garnsey, Peter. Food and Society in Classical Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Helstosky, Carol. Garlic and Oil: Food and Politics in Italy. New York: Bloomsbury, 2004.
Higgins, Charles. “Less Olive Oil Improves Quality.” www.oliveoiltimes.com, April 3, 2012.
Kalua, C. M., M. S. Allen, D. R. Bedgood Jr., A. G. Bishop, P. D. Prenzler, K. Robards. “Olive oil volatile compounds, flavour development and quality: A critical review.” Food Chemistry 100 (2007) 273–286, www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem.
Keyder, Virginia. Law and Olive Oil: The New Green Gold. JURIST - Forum, August 1, 2012, http://jurist.org/forum/2012/08/virginia-keyder-olive-oil.php.
Kiritsakis, Dr. A. Olive Oil from the Tree to the Table, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley-Blackwell, 1998.
Mueller, Tom. Extra-Virginity. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011.
Oreggia, Marco. FlosOlei: Guida al mondo dell’extravergine/A guide to the world of extra-virgin olive oil (in Italian and English). Published annually, Rome.
Pollan, Michael. Botany of Desire. New York: Random House, 2001.
Quiles, José L., M. Carmen Ramírez-Tortosa, Parveen Yaqoob. Olive Oil and Health. Wallingford (England): CABI, 2006.
Rosenblum, Mort. Olives: The Life and Lore of a Noble Fruit. New York: Macmillan, 1996.
Speranza, Rossella. Olive Oil: Sense and Sensibility. Galatina (Italy): Congedo Editore 2008.
Van Andel, Tjeerd H., and Curtis Runnels. Beyond the Acropolis: A Rural Greek Past. Redwood City, California: Stanford University Press, 1987.
Varela, Gregorio. Frying Food in Olive Oil. International Olive Oil Council, Madrid: nd.
Wilkins, John, and Shaun Hill. Archestratus: Fragments from the Life of Luxury, revised edition. Totnes, Devon: Prospect Books, 2011.
Some publications of interest on the nutritional science behind possible health effects of extra-virgin olive oil:
Beauchamp, Gary K. et al. “Phytochemistry: Ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil.” Nature: 437, September 1, 2005.
Fistonic´ , I., M. Situm, V. Bulat, M. Harapin, N. Fistonic´ , D. Verbanac. “Olive oil biophenols and women’s health.” Gynecology, Obstetrics and Menopause Clinic, Preradovic´ eva 10, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.
Hardy, S., W. El-Assaad, E. Przybytkowski, E. Joly, M. Prentki, Y. Langelier. “Saturated fatty acid–induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. A role for cardiolipin.” Molecular Nutrition Unit, Centre de Recherche du Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, and the Institut du Cancer de Montréal, Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.
Harvey, Kevin A., Candace L. Walker, Zhidong Xu, Phillip Whitley, Thomas M. Pavlina, Mary Hise, Gary P. Zaloga, and Rafat A. Siddiqui. “Oleic acid inhibits stearic acid-induced inhibition of cell growth and pro-inflammatory responses in human aortic endothelial cells.” www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.
Kalua, C. M., M. S. Allen, D. R. Bedgood Jr., A. G. Bishop, P. D. Prenzler, K. Robards. “Olive oil volatile compounds, flavour development and quality: A critical review,” Food Chemistry 100 (2007) 273–286, www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem.
Konstantinidou, Valentini, Maria-Isabel Covas, Daniel Muñoz-Aguayo, Olha Khymenets, Rafael de la Torre, Gullermo Saez, Maria del Carmen Tormos, Estefania Toledo, Amelia Marti, Valentina Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Maria Victoria Ruiz Mendez, and Montserrat Fito. “In vivo nutrigenomic effects of virgin olive oil polyphenols within the frame of the Mediterranean diet: a randomized controlled trial.” Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), www.fasebj.org/content/24/7/2546.abstract.
Mizushina, Y., T. Takeuchi, F. Sugawara, H. Yoshida. “Anti-Cancer Targeting Telomerase Inhibitors: β-Rubromycin and Oleic Acid.” Laboratory of Food & Nutritional Sciences, Department of Nutritional Science, Kobe-Gakuin University, Nishi-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, mizushin@nutr.kobegakuin.ac.jp; www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.
Monti, Maria Chiara, Luigi Margarucci, Alessandra Tosco, Raffaele Riccio, Agostino Casapullo. “New insights on the interaction mechanism between tau protein and oleocanthal, an extra-virgin olive-oil bioactive component.” Journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry; cited as DOI: 10.1039/c1fo10064e (www.rsc.org/foodfunction); June 2011.
Terés, S., G. Barceló-Coblijn, M. Benet, R. Álvarez, R. Bressani, J. E. Halver, and P. V. Escribá. “Oleic acid content is responsible for the reduction in blood pressure induced by olive oil.” www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.