Which olive oils do you recommend?

bmw2800cs

bmw2800cs

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From the Tariffs thread I saw the potential for some good info about olive oils. I usually buy California olive oils because I've read that European olive oils are sometimes diluted with other oils. I personally love Greek Kalamata olive oils for it's rich smell and taste (good for drizzling, salads etc) and I rely on Costco olive oil for day to day cooking due to their quality control. I also smuggle some Greek olive oil from the island of Chios - my cousin makes it from his own olives :)

What brands and regions of olive oils do you like? What about making your own?
 
We try to buy local. Made in Willamette Valley.

Durant at Red Ridge Farms | Durant Oregon | Durant Oregon Olive Mill

Durant Oregon Olive Mill is the premier purveyor of Oregon milled Extra Virgin Olive Oil and home to the only Olioteca in the Pacific Northwest. Purchase our olive oils here.
durantoregon.com durantoregon.com
IMG_4418.jpeg
 
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Thanks @JMinPDX - an interesting little write up from the website you reccomended:
www.oliveoilsource.com

Adulterated / Fraudulent Extra Virgin Olive Oil — The Olive Oil Source

With the proliferation of non-evidenced based content on the Internet, it’s difficult to determine what is fact and what is fiction in the olive oil business. We would like to help our customers and content-consumers at The Olive Source better understand the facts around adulteration and fraud with
www.oliveoilsource.com www.oliveoilsource.com
 
I buy this in Aptos at the farmer's market, we deal with the owners, and they have a great olio nuovo. Local from Santa Cruz.
www.bellefarms.com

Belle Farms

Belle Farms produces award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the Tuscan tradition with a distinct California flair! We are located in Santa Cruz County.
www.bellefarms.com www.bellefarms.com
 
Arde said:
I buy this in Aptos at the farmer's market, we deal with the owners, and they have a great olio nuovo. Local from Santa Cruz.
www.bellefarms.com

Belle Farms

Belle Farms produces award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the Tuscan tradition with a distinct California flair! We are located in Santa Cruz County.
www.bellefarms.com www.bellefarms.com
Click to expand...
I'll check them out, thanks!
 
okay, might be more than you wanted to read, but ... at home i use a lot of olive oil - probably 1.5L every 6 weeks. for commercial olive oil for everyday things, i like + use Carapelli 100% Italian olive oil and 100% original evoo. i have also used various California olive oils ... i like spanish oils made from arbequina olives. it really depends on what you are going to do with the oil. when i cook eggs, i want a mild olive oil. i have heard good things about oils from McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma - especially the certified organic evoo ... a robust flavor oil. i am probably going to go visit them in a couple of weeks when i am in the area. will be cooking with some friends in Bodega Bay.

i like greek oils from the Pelepennese islands - the best are fruity and peppery. kalamata (also from pelepennese) primarily use koroneiki olives ... a little milder aroma, bright green color

my favorite olive oils, where the flavor of the oil is really important - drizzling over pan roasted halibut, in vinaigrettes and dipping bread in oil, i look for small production italian oils, usually from Tuscany, but sometimes from other parts - one is Elena Fucci Monte Vulture, another is il Carnasciale X. Sicily also has some great oils. these oils are not easy to find, definitely not in a grocery store ... but they are amazing.
 
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rsporsche said:
okay, might be more than you wanted to read, but ... at home i use a lot of olive oil - probably 1.5L every 6 weeks. for commercial olive oil for everyday things, i like + use Carapelli 100% Italian olive oil and 100% original evoo. i have also used various California olive oils ... i like spanish oils made from arbequina olives. it really depends on what you are going to do with the oil. when i cook eggs, i want a mild olive oil. i have heard good things about oils from McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma - especially the certified organic evoo ... a robust flavor oil. i am probably going to go visit them in a couple of weeks when i am in the area. will be cooking with some friends in Bodega Bay.

i like greek oils from the Pelepennese islands - the best are fruity and peppery. kalamata (also from pelepennese) primarily use koroneiki olives ... a little milder aroma, bright green color

my favorite olive oils, where the flavor of the oil is really important - drizzling over pan roasted halibut, in vinaigrettes and dipping bread in oil, i look for small production italian oils, usually from Tuscany, but sometimes from other parts - one is Elena Fucci Monte Vulture, another is il Carnasciale X. Sicily also has some great oils. these oils are not easy to find, definitely not in a grocery store ... but they are amazing.
Click to expand...
First of all I love that you make a specific reference to cooking eggs. Eggs basted in olive oil is amazing and I could go through half a loaf of bread eating them. This is not more than I wanted to read, thank you!

- Steve
 
I have no idea about oils, I buy the second cheapest AOVE with DOP certification that I can find

bmw2800cs said:
From the Tariffs thread I saw the potential for some good info about olive oils. I usually buy California olive oils because I've read that European olive oils are sometimes diluted with other oils. I personally love Greek Kalamata olive oils for it's rich smell and taste (good for drizzling, salads etc) and I rely on Costco olive oil for day to day cooking due to their quality control. I also smuggle some Greek olive oil from the island of Chios - my cousin makes it from his own olives :)

What brands and regions of olive oils do you like? What about making your own?
Click to expand...


So curious , you said “European”
That article only speaks only bad for “Italian” and the “agromafia”, are they more cases ?
it seems a marketing pamphlet to sell their oils, which is perfect, but fascinates me how the knowledge is built and the bad word spreads all over the European so easily

An interesting read…long but many facts exposed on European oils

Entering the European market for olive oil | CBI

New olive oil exporters that want to enter the European market need to put their products through regular laboratory and sensory tests. You may have a competitive advantage if you can offer olive oil with superior sensory characteristics, related to specific production areas, certified organic...
www.cbi.eu www.cbi.eu

Take a look to certifications and quality controls, also to production and import export figures by country, it is curious…some countries are not even mentioned, others …

Making your own ? …well, I recall that in Finland you can buy prepared kits to make your own wine, sort of brave
Filtering and decantation is maybe requiring some equipment…

I once got 200cl of just pressed oil from the tap, immense taste, lived only for 8 days, start to rotten so quickly we had to throw it away

Proof…
[
271F0FFB-46B1-412F-B4F1-8A8EEF68906F.jpeg



You asked about the best oil? Your cousin’s undoubtably

For the last 27 years same producer (we visited them in our Our honeymoon trip) usual purchase of AOVE extra virgen oil price did not exceed 5€/L until 2023 when droughts made production so limited that prices doubled, now recovering 7€ per liter with an exceptional harvest made possible by copious rain in 2023 and 24. 2024 harvest oil is now in the shelves, price still have to drop a bit

We trust in picual from Andalucía, and arbequina from Navarra, excellent cornicabra oils from Toledo too, our family year Consumption of olive oil is around 60 liters (7 members), we are serious about oil in the kitchen and in the engines too

I don’t buy foreign oils

as of today: you need 300ml for a pilpil cod

1744538128780.png
 
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bmw2800cs said:
First of all I love that you make a specific reference to cooking eggs. Eggs basted in olive oil is amazing and I could go through half a loaf of bread eating them. This is not more than I wanted to read, thank you!

- Steve
Click to expand...

So funny, I can not consider other way to fry an egg
Curious thing, for fried potatoes always sunflower oil, for potato omelette also fry the potatoes in sunflower, but then to make the omelette I use olive oil, other do different
 
today i found a curious thing while cooking lunch:

1744538195901.png

found a plastic container with olive oil, it is also spain origin (it was a Xmas present), but look

left oil has proper details (type of olives, mechanical and cold extraction, ) and certificates, right one says little, no good; probably used for frying croquetas...
 
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deQuincey said:
today i found a curious thing while cooking lunch:

View attachment 200762
found a plastic container with olive oil, it is also spain origin (it was a Xmas present), but look

left oil has proper details (type of olives, mechanical and cold extraction, ) and certificates, right one says little, no good; probably used for frying croquetas...
Click to expand...
Hey @deQuincey, I mentioned European olive oils from memory, not that article. It may be that some of the exported olive oils are diluted many oils we buy (not just Europe) are already a little rancid. I will look for the certifications that you discussed, thanks! I'll see if AOVE is sold here and I'll consider the types of olives you mentioned from Andalucia, Navarra and Toledo. Thanks as always!
 
rsporsche said:
okay, might be more than you wanted to read, but ... at home i use a lot of olive oil - probably 1.5L every 6 weeks. for commercial olive oil for everyday things, i like + use Carapelli 100% Italian olive oil and 100% original evoo. i have also used various California olive oils ... i like spanish oils made from arbequina olives. it really depends on what you are going to do with the oil. when i cook eggs, i want a mild olive oil. i have heard good things about oils from McEvoy Ranch in Petaluma - especially the certified organic evoo ... a robust flavor oil. i am probably going to go visit them in a couple of weeks when i am in the area. will be cooking with some friends in Bodega Bay.

i like greek oils from the Pelepennese islands - the best are fruity and peppery. kalamata (also from pelepennese) primarily use koroneiki olives ... a little milder aroma, bright green color

my favorite olive oils, where the flavor of the oil is really important - drizzling over pan roasted halibut, in vinaigrettes and dipping bread in oil, i look for small production italian oils, usually from Tuscany, but sometimes from other parts - one is Elena Fucci Monte Vulture, another is il Carnasciale X. Sicily also has some great oils. these oils are not easy to find, definitely not in a grocery store ... but they are amazing.and Meyers Grade Rd.
Click to expand...
Bodega Bay....nice I grew up surfing there since I was a kid. Mostly Doran Beach, Salmon Creek, then up to Goat Rock and River mouth in Jenner and beyond. A lot of car commercials you see are filmed in that area, especially Goat Rock and Meyers Grade Rd.

If you have time, take Hwy 1 up to Stewart's Point then the road inland is one of the most epic backroads drives in CA called Skaggs Springs Road. Will take you up to Lake Sonoma and Healdsburg. If you don't have that kind of time, check out The Sea Ranch, lived there for 8 years. enjoy the vacation! Unique architecture and really hasn't changed much since I lived there in the 70's. Have a drink at the Sea Ranch Lodge.
 
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Nachtycoupe said:
Bodega Bay....nice I grew up surfing there since I was a kid. Mostly Doran Beach, Salmon Creek, then up to Goat Rock and River mouth in Jenner and beyond. A lot of car commercials you see are filmed in that area, especially Goat Rock and Meyers Grade Rd.

If you have time, take Hwy 1 up to Stewart's Point then the road inland is one of the most epic backroads drives in CA called Skaggs Springs Road. Will take you up to Lake Sonoma and Healdsburg. If you don't have that kind of time, check out The Sea Ranch, lived there for 8 years. enjoy the vacation! Unique architecture and really hasn't changed much since I lived there in the 70's. Have a drink at the Sea Ranch Lodge.
Click to expand...
thanks for the recommendation, i forgot that Sea Ranch was north of there. as an architect, i studied this in school in the late 70s and was a fan of the work of MLTW. in fact, the T is for Turnbull, who has a nice winery in Napa Valley (Oakville).
 
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