Tasting Olive Oil

With so many olive oils on supermarket shelves, a good and curious cook
might want to compare various types. In additions, a good cook may wish to try to identify their characteristics in order to decide which olive oils are best for cooking, salads, drizzling on dishes or dunking with bread.

There is a wide range of flavours found in extra virgin olive oils. Flavours are determined by several factors including type of olives, ripeness of olives, growing conditions, and oil storage:

• Mild and buttery: These are subtle oils, good for mild dishes such as a simple fish or salad dressing. They tend to be light golden-green.

• Fruity and spicy: You can smell the herbs in these green oils. They are delicious with cooked vegetables and seafood and are easy to love.

• Fruity and peppery: These will get your attention with a long peppery finish. Their assertive flavours are good companions for sandwich fillings, drizzled on garlicky dishes such as pastas, or grilled meats. They are often dark green-gold in colour.

• Full bodied and earthy: Like a big wine, these are big olive oils. Rich mouth-feel with a full flavour characterizes the golden oils.

Tasting olive oil…

Here are some tips on how to taste olive oil:

Firstly, pour a little olive oil (approximately 1 tablespoon) in a small glass. Cover the glass with one hand, shake it delicately with the other until the oil adheres to the entire inside surface. Warm oil in the glass with your hands until it is close to body temperature.

Lift the glass to your nose and sniff rapidly and deeply three time (raising your nose up and away from the oil between each sniff). Olive oils have aromas just like wine. We then tried to analyze the aroma. There really is a difference in aromas!

Tasting: Take a sip (approx. 10 drops into mouth). DON'T SWALLOW! Roll the olive oil around in your mouth for approximately 6 seconds and then spit it out. The oil should touch all areas of the mouth so that the various tastes and sensations can be noted. Then it is spit out.

Between tasting each kind of olive oil, drink lots of water and eat a small piece of bread to cleanse your palate. No wine - just water.