cmt

Which area's olive oils do you like best? My favorites are good Sicilian olive oils. They have a strong olive flavor, but it is a fruity, rich olive flavor, rather than a sharp, peppery flavor like the Tuscan. They are pretty heavy, not light and refined like the French. I generally get a cheaper, not bad, extra virgin olive oil from the supermarket for general use (sometimes from Greece, sometimes from origins unknown), and a good Sicilian extra virgin olive oil for times when I want really good oil. I have oil on my mind because I just got a different oil today. I got it because it's from the new crop pressed this past fall, and that's not usually available. It's the greenest oil I've ever seen. It's very good, but not better than my usual very good Sicilian oil--just different.

Gretchen

Along about March Costco will have their (Kirkland) Tuscan olive oil available. It is excellent. Their regular oil is quite good. Being very green has little to do with quality.

cmt

Oh, but the green is so pretty. I think it has to do with the variety of olive and the stage of ripeness. This oil is from an early pressing, I think in October, it is probably so green because the olives are nopt ripe. It's the greenest oil I've ever seen. I think normal pressing time in Sicily is November, and my usual favorite may be from somewhat riper olives, probably pressed in November. Their new oil is exported, too, but usually sells out by special order so I never see it. I know the olives should not be too ripe, or else they will not be in perfect unspoiled condition, and I think then the oil may be too acid, but I'm not sure. In Tuscany, I think the pressing is later, probably December.

Underhill

My olive-oil preferences are both from France: Alziari, from the shop in Nice, and any of the good oils from the area around Nyons. The Alpilles area also produces excellent olive oil.

mnc

I really know Spanish olive oil, preferably from Jaen.

Xenos

Good Greek olive oil (eg Kalamata) is hard to beat. I think it's because the Greeks don't pick the olives - they just wait until they fall off the trees of their own accord. So they are really ripe and luscious and make a richer, sweeter oil.

Gretchen

The other thing about olive oil (and the reason I have about 4 different ones on my shelf) is the many different "tastes"--floral, peppery, smooth, etc. I agree the green is pretty. The Costco Kirkland oil will be dated as the "Nov./Dec. harvest 2003" in the case of this year.

cmt

Xenos, I'm thining about what you said about the ripe olives and I have a question (but I rambled, so it's further down in my message).

I like Greek olive oil. To me, the Sicilian oils are closer in taste to Greek oil than to the Tuscan or Provençal oils (which are very different from each other). I loved the really good olive oil in Greece. When I get "ordinary" olive oil at home in the supermarket, I often buy some of the Greek brands, which are from olives grown in Greece, instead of the standard Italian brands, which are bottled in Italy, but could be from olives from anywhere (not necessarily bad, and possibly very good, but just not specified). Where I live I do not see any special olive oils from Greece. Usually the very good oils marketed where I live are from Italy or France.

I always thought that good olive oil was from olives that are ripe. Greek and Sicilian oils seem to taste riper and sweeter than Tuscan oils, which I think are made from less ripe olives, maybe because the olives don't ripen as fully in the more northern climate. When i was in Sicily in November a year ago, it was olive harvest time in some areas. From what I could see, the olives were not being plucked, but it also didn't seem that people were harvesting whatever had fallen by itself the day before. They seemed to be putting cloths under the trees, and I think they shook the branches or tapped the olives to make the olives fall. (That's what I do to pick pears from my overproductive pear tree, except that I don't put a cloth underneath.) I visited two different olive mills, one in the Madonie Mts. area, and one in the Nebrodi Mts. I saw olives brought in by various people to be pressed, and they ranged from moderately unripe to extremely ripe and wrinkled and beginning to rot. A few people explained to me that the olives should not be too ripe, because then they are beginning to decompose and the oil will not be perfect. (I think they said the oil will be too acid.) The conversations were in Italian, and it's possible I misunderstood something. In Greece, are the olives used after they've started to shrivel a little, or are they used when they are at their peak and just ready to drop, but before they have begun to change character after being off the tree?

martytravels

Spain, from Andalusia.

dickv2

Good morning, have to put in my two cents worth and that is I prefer a
dark green olive oil from SICILY. For
cooking and frying, really prefer the
aftertaste of the Sicilian oils, preferably from the area east of Palermo, Termini Imerese..
Richard of LaGrange Park, Il..

sera

I love the peppery olive oils of Lucca.

Xenos

cmt, I think the Greeks give the trees a bit of a shake every now and then, so the olives don't get to the shrivelled stage.

They spread nets under the trees to make it easier to gather the olives up and help prevent them getting bruised as they fall. It can be a bit like an assault course sometimes walking through a Greek olive grove and avoiding all the nets that are lying on the ground or suspended a few feet in the air

cigalechanta

My olive oil, from Provence, the Moulin de Jean Marie Cornille in Maussane. The choice of Provençal chefs.
I second the Aziari that I brought back also. and ther's a wonderful Spanish one I bought in a huge tin.(forgot the name)

Maribel

cmt,
My 2 Spanish favorites:
Extra Virgen "Duque de Baena", from Baena, Córdoba province
Extra Virgen "Caroliva" from Linares (Jaén)

ealing_calling

Greek !

cmt

Topping bcause of a recent flurry of interest re olive oils.

Peep

My all time favorite is from Crete!

cmt

On another thread someone mentioned smoiking. Olive oil doesn't burn as quickly as other oils, so unless you leave it on high heat and forget about it, it probably won't start smoking. But if it does, I think it's best to discard it and start again with fresh oil.

Question for those who prefer French oils. Do the ones you like have a definite olive taste and smell? I found most French oils too mild for me, but I don't have too much experience with them.

cyberUK

cmt,
It is kind of wasteful to cook with extra virgin, no real benefit to speak of, and they do have a low smoke point.

May I suggest that you try an oil from Tuscany that is superior to many of the roughly produced "peppery" Tuscan oils.

Laudemio is an organic oil made at the Fattoria di Maiano near Florence. It has a distinctly Tuscan perfume, and a fruity, soft (by Tuscan standards) taste.

Singletail

Personally, I prefer the oils from Spain but if YOU are doing the cooking then I'll gladly eat it with your own favorite.