Oil which is refrigerated will last longer but this is only necessary if you take a long time to finish a bottle. Generally it is only necessary to keep it in a cool place but more importantly away from light. <BR>A really good oil which has not been heavily filtered (thereby keeping more of its flavour) will throw a deposit. You may therefore want to filter yourself a bottle you have just opened say in the summer following i.e. circa 6 - 9 months after production. The more mass produced oils do not throw off a sediment.

To the top for rlm

is there a limit on the amount of olive oil we can bring back into the u.s.? do you claim it? excuse me if you think the questions are redundant.

Atrip to the Lungharotti (sp?) Olive Oil Museum in Torgiano is well worth it. We had the pleasure of staying with friends in Apullia/Puglia who have an olive grove and it was at their suggestion that we went. They gave us 15 litres of their own first "cold press" oil to bring home; no lables, just utilitarian green metal cans, 5 x 3 litres. We had no customs problem getting them home (Canada), but it was the heaviest, gurgliest carry-on I've ever brought on to a plane...and worth every delicious ounce/millelitre!

Ian, <BR> <BR>Thanks so much for the info. For all of you who have been to Florence and Siena, I assume I can pick up a few bottles of high quality olive oil without having to visit the producers? Are there any other brands that are particularly good and can be found in these cities? Thanks. <BR>TTT.

TTT

ttt

Linda, <BR>Throughout Florence you can find these little wine shops that also sell olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Just ask the person in the shop for the best olive oils he/she sells. This is what we did. <BR>I was armed with an article, about Tuscany, from Victoria magazine that had a picture of a particular olive oil that I was searching out. I checked out many of the "wine" shops for it and everyone was sold out of it. As luck would have it I found it in a shop that was right near my hotel (loggiato dei serviti). If your at all interested the olive oil came from Castello Banfi (the producers of Brunello di Montalcino wine) You can check out their website at castellobanfi.com and read about their olive oil in, I think, their wine section.