Do You Know What Good Olive Oil Tastes Like?

"PROMOTING APPRECIATION OF WINE THROUGH EDUCATION"

The statement above is the purpose of the American Wine Society, but man (or woman) cannot live by wine alone.  Occasionally, we need a bit of diversity.  Here at the Pittsburgh Chapter, we’d like to introduce a few related items to our education.

The reality is that many people don’t know what a good olive oil is supposed to taste like. And since there are many recipes that include olive oil, we thought we would give some tips on what to look for in a good olive oil. We always hear that good food comes from fresh ingredients. Olive oil in the Mediterranean diet is an ingredient that’s in almost every recipe. Greeks are the highest consumers of olive oil in the world, and for a reason. Olive oil is added everywhere!  Apart from flavor, good olive oil is important for its health benefits. Old olive oil lacks those valuable antioxidants that are responsible for most of its health benefits.

You may think that you would know just by tasting if an olive oil is bad, but that’s not the case, particularly when olive oil hasn’t been part of your daily diet. A study from the University of California, Davis had found that 44% of consumers in the U.S. liked defects like rancidity, fustiness, mustiness and winey flavor in their olive oil. The authors indicate that this may be due to the large amount of defective olive oil labeled as extra virgin available to consumers. In other words, because there’s such a large amount of defective oil in the market and people are used consuming it, they think that this is what olive oil is supposed to taste like.

So the lesson here is that by not knowing what good olive oil tastes like, you may be missing out on not only taste but also the health benefits.

Good Characteristics

Fruity
Don’t forget that olives are fruit, so a good olive oil needs to have some degree of fruitiness. This can come from ripe olives or unripe (green) olives. Olive oil should taste fresh, not heavy and “oily”.

Bitter
Yes, it’s true. Bitter is good. Bitterness is a characteristic of fresh olive oil. Olives are bitter. The degree of bitterness depends on how ripe the olive is. So, bitter olive oil is a positive thing. However, depending on your taste, you may want to find an olive oil that has a balance of fruity and bitter that you can tolerate.

Pungent
This is a peppery characteristic that you’ll feel at the back of your throat when you swallow the oil. You may even cough. Many people think this is bad but it isn’t. It signifies the presence of certain antioxidants. This peppery sensation should go away fairly quickly, it shouldn’t linger.

Bad Characteristics

Olive Oil should not have the following characteristics:

Fusty
This is a common defect that appears when the olives are gathered in piles that may cause advanced fermentation. Fusty smells like or tastes like sweaty socks or swampy vegetation.

Musty
This is a moldy flavor that appears when the olives were stored for several days in a humid environment and developed yeast and fungi.

Winey-Vinegary
Exactly as described, your olive oil should not taste or smell like wine. This fault is due to fermentation of the olives.

Metallic
This is a taste that reminds you of metal. Usually it’s a result of prolonged contact with metallic surface during production but also storage.

Rancid
This is the most common defect in olive oil.  It’s basically olive oil gone bad and you may have come across this taste when you eat old nuts or stale crackers that are made with fat.