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While in Umbria, we visited an olve oil factory and toured with the owner.

He explained that the proper way to tast olive oil was similar to tasting wine. Pour some into a glass and look at it, smell it and drink it.

He said that using bread to taste was not an accurate way to taste olvie oil.

Tuscany: Lucca and Mugello area.
Puglia and Umbria.

We go through alot of live oil at our house. For Italian, we did bring home a bottle of L'olionovo from Castellina in Chianti when we were there. Apparently one can get it a specialty shops in the US> In the meantime for you California folks we have been buying Bariani Extra Virgin Olive Oil(stone crushed, cold presses and unfiltered) at the Berkeley Farmers' Market. You can find it in a variety of specialty shops as well around CA. We buy the October Harvest Special edition which has more intense flavor. The family farm and press is in Sacramento area. For orders etc: [email protected]

I like the extra virgin olive oil I get from SAM's Club in the huge jug. It's Bertolli's, but I have no idea of what are of Italy it's produced in. I'll have to look at the jug to see. I wanted to buy some olive oil at O & Company in Paris, but we were in the Marais and didn't want to carry it around all day. We figured, since there's a shop near our hotel, we could get it there. Predictably, we didn't get back, and the same thing happened with L'Occitane... I tried to go there our last morning, and it was 9:00 AM -- they didn't open until 10:00 AM, which was too late for us, so I ordered my usual large tube of L'Occitane Shea butter hand cream from Sephora online. I didn't order it from L'Occitane, as they don't say that they have secure ordering, and the shipping is a little less with Sephora. I've also ordered many times many times from Sephora, and their service is very good.

Best,
Sandy

I like the Sicilian variety of olive oils too, they are nice and strong. In the summer here in the US I go to Greek festivals and buy their oils too. I think they are similar.

A little note: if you have some oil that has gotten a little past its prime or was left open or whatever to ruin the taste, use it to polish and refresh wooden furniture. I even pour some on my hardwood floors and spread it around with a mop and the color deepens and looks so much better, even takes off scuff marks. Don't worry it seeps right in and by the end of the day it is not wet or oily, just beautiful.

Sandypaws -- There is an Oliviers & Co. in Grand Central -- NYC. I don't know where you live, but maybe there are more of them in the U.S. besides this one. I really like this store because you can taste all the oils before buying. I was skeptical about their "flavored" oils, but I smelled & tasted the basil olive oil -- it truly smells like fresh basil & it is wonderful over tomato/mozz. if you don't have fresh basil.

I also love J. Leblanc olive oils in Paris. There is a small shop in the 6th arr. They also have a wonderful pistachio oil which is lovely paired with avocado.

The smoking point of olive oil is 410 degrees.

Croatian.

Nocinonut: Doesn't olive oil, or any oil, make the dirt stick to yiour floor? I have occasionally used a little bit of olive oil on certain wood furniture.

Also, FYI, if you ever accidentally (how else?!) get polyurethane in your hair, let me tell you that you can get it out with olive oil! Probably any oil will work, but olive oil was what I had on hand when this emergency arose. I had been polyurethaning an unfinished computer desk in a hurry a few days before the arrival of my first, and so far only, computer. In a burst of conscientiousness, I was doing the underside of the furniture, too. Apparently I kept bumping my hair into the wet bottom of the desk. By the time I was finished, the polyurethane all over my head had dried to a crisp. I couldn't possibly get a comb through it. Neither turpentine nor a crew cut appealed to me as options. Since polyurethane is an OIL-based varnish, I though maybe some more oil would loosen up the varnish that had only recently hardened on my hair. So I slathered olive oil all over my hair, and then washed it all out. It worked perfectly. My hair was extra-shiny after this.

cmt, no it doesn't, but my floors are old and tend to be dry and just suck up the oil in a hour or so. I left one part undone under a throw rug and you can really see how much better the oiled part looks.

Had to laugh about your polyurethane accident (how else, indeed!).

A few drops also works as a good massage oil too, make you feel very Meditereanean!

Nocinonut: After my olive-oil varnish-removal feat, I not only felt Mediterranean, but I smelled pretty "ethnic" for the next day, too.

I bet you enticed alot of hungry people that day too.

cmt -- you made me laugh! I did the same thing with paint once. Another household tip -- olive oil helps open old windows. I used oodles of it on the windows of our (previous) 1790 home. This was after my husband brilliantly tried to "loosen" them up with a hammer.

Ha, olive oil: the miracle fluid. And just think, we can eat it too!