My wife and I cook with olive oil quite often, polishing off 4-5 liters each year. Of course, there's a difference between "cooking" olive oil (usually just "virgin," but we've used "extra virgin" to cook, as well) and "fancy" olive oil (the premium "extra virgin" stuff). We've tried lots of different brands and haven't really settled on favorites, so I'm wondering, what brands of olive oil ("cooking" and/or "fancy") do you swear by?
Olive Oil
- Thread starter Gruder
- Start date
whatever the next-to-cheapest brand is, usually
I use a lot of it for cooking & making pesto. I typically buy a large tin of Bertolli EV. We usually have some higher quality stuff on hand for special occasions or recipes.
jim
jim
For cooking purposes we use a cheaper, organic extra virgin like Newman's. For use on salads we usually try something a little nicer. Apollo olive oil is at the top of our budget but it's a real treat when we get it. The Mistral is amazing.
I go through at least 1 liter a month. I find that Pompei has been very consistent over the last decade. I usually stock up when its on sale, otherwise I get Bertolli (sp?). Im Lebanese so I often buy oils from there. Spain, Greece, and Morocco are on top of my list otherwise. French and Italian are quite acidy as far as the premium brands go. YMMV...
ETA: Santini from Trader Joe's also is good and inexpensive.
ETA: Santini from Trader Joe's also is good and inexpensive.
Costco special. Since I can't tell a difference I don't see the need to spend the extra money.
Mrs. Pez and I took a cruise last November. One of the stops was Ensenada. We signed up for the "Wine Tour Expedition." It stopped at two wineries about 60 miles inland. At one of the wineries, they also had a huge orchard of olive trees. We ended up buying 12 bottles of olive oil. They packaged it in the wine bottles. It was very flavorful. We just finished the last bottle about two weeks ago. Good thing we have another cruise coming up in December... I'm buying 2 cases this time!
I go through a lot, 1 to 2 liters a month, easily. I generally use 2 different oils from Trader Joes. They sell one liter bottles of great extra virgin for around $7, that I use for cooking. They also have a few unfiltered extra virgin oil that I use for salads and the like for also very good prices. The single olive arbequina oil is fantastic, as is the "first lady reserve". All three of the olive oils are as good, if not better than oils I've had that are twice or even three times the price.
Needless to say, Trader Joe's gets all of my olive oil money.
Needless to say, Trader Joe's gets all of my olive oil money.
That just means you've never tried the good stuff - unless you have no sense of smell/taste, there's no comparison between a high quality cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil and the "generic" versions.
I'm not saying the Costco stuff (which I've never tried) isn't any good, as their own-label stuff is usually pretty decent, I'm just saying that there's a world of difference between extra-virgin olive oils in terms of flavour.
I use decent quality olive oil for cooking, but use a more flavourful, higher quality one for dressings or any other application where the oil is supposed to add a flavour element and/or is not cooked.
I especially like the oils I get from a local vendor who sources his products from his family's farm in Greece. Its not cheap, but at $15 a litre, its not overly expensive for one of life's little luxuries. You don't need to spend a ton of money or "gourmet" olive oils that come in fancy-shmancy packaging. In fact, you can often find very good olive oils at ethnic food markets/stores (Italian, Greek, Portugese, Middle-Eastern, etc.) at very reasonable prices.
I get Bertolli to cook with, but for soapmaking, since I go through gallons at a time, I usually buy at Costco.
there is a world of difference amongst the different sorts of olive oils. Extra virgin olive oil should not be used for frying, sautéing , or ordinary cooking purposes because it will break down and smoke under these temperatures. For these purposes, pure olive oil works best. However, for salads, vegetables, topping a grilled steak, or even warming up sliced garlic, nothing comes close to extra virgin olive oil. Does color matter? Absolutely not! The quality (and taste) of an olive oil has absolutely nothing to do with its color. we usually keep around six or seven different extra virgin olive oils on hand and this suffices for most cooking purposes. While the quality of olive oil available in most supermarkets has improved greatly in recent years, we obtain most of our olive oils here. there is also a first rate olive oil shop in Grand Central Station in Manhattan, and many fine olive oils can also be obtained at gourmet stores around the country. No, all olive oils are not alike, not even close, and oftentimes it isn't even a matter of which oil is better than another as it is which oil is best suited for a particular purpose. Anyway, this is a good place to start, and the olive oil that I would use for dipping bread is not the same that I would drizzle over asparagus.
When I was in grad school 20 years ago, I worked as a tour guide at a winery in the Napa Valley. The winery produced its own extra-virgin olive oil. It was considered to be top quality. For the price, I didn't think that it was worth it.
We all have the foods, beverages etc. that we all prefer. Extra-virgin olive oil is not one of the items for me. I use it for cooking and that is it.
We don't get fancy. We used to use Bertolli extra virgin, but for the past couple of years we are very satisfied with Kirkland's (Costco store brand) extra virgin. We don't use so much of it that it would save us much to cook with a lower grade, so that's all we buy.
Tim
Tim
- Thread starter
- #16
Thanks for all the responses, gentlemen. Looks like I'll need to check out Trader Joe's for sure, while a bottle or two of the Apollo that kongjie mentioned may make it to the "splurge" list.
No offence intended.
Like all things in life, price does not necessarily reflect quality. I've had very expensive olive oils that I didn't think tasted any better than the stuff you can find in any decent supermarket.
The most important thing is to eat what you like and like what you eat.
Gruder
Here in S.W. Ontario, the commonest brand of decent olive oil is probably Bertolli's, and I very often use it, both for cooking and salads. You should read an olive oil label like you would a wine label, not only for the brand name but for the country of origin and for special attributes. To begin with, along with the phrase "extra virgin" look for the words "cold pressed". The lees of the first pressing of olives are heated and pressed again, and yield a usable but lower quality oil which may be sold as "virgin" oil or simply as "olive oil".
Such oils are excellent for cooking but should probably left out of dressings
Labels of high quality, salad grade oils will often give descriptions of the oil's bouquet and flavour.
Best regards
Graham
Here in S.W. Ontario, the commonest brand of decent olive oil is probably Bertolli's, and I very often use it, both for cooking and salads. You should read an olive oil label like you would a wine label, not only for the brand name but for the country of origin and for special attributes. To begin with, along with the phrase "extra virgin" look for the words "cold pressed". The lees of the first pressing of olives are heated and pressed again, and yield a usable but lower quality oil which may be sold as "virgin" oil or simply as "olive oil".
Such oils are excellent for cooking but should probably left out of dressings
Labels of high quality, salad grade oils will often give descriptions of the oil's bouquet and flavour.
Best regards
Graham
For cooking, or even making vinaigrettes that are overpowered by other ingredients, I'll use a no brainer choice of Colavito or Trader Joe's extra virgin. For drizzling, dipping, or any application where you really want the flavor of the oil to show through, the sky's the limit, and there is no shortage of high end producers. Those, of course, are wasted in cooking. A basic, honest oil with a bit of butter added is hard to beat. Forget olive oil for deep frying- stick with soy, corn, canola for your hippie friends, and groundnut (peanut) oil when you want to live a little.
For salads in particular, I have found a less expensive alternative to the pricey uber high end olive oils- huile de noix and huile de noisette: walnut and hazelnut oils. They are remarkable.
For salads in particular, I have found a less expensive alternative to the pricey uber high end olive oils- huile de noix and huile de noisette: walnut and hazelnut oils. They are remarkable.
No offence taken.
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