Choosing an Olive Oil

 

When I first started dating my now husband of many years, I was often fascinated by the differences in his mother’s Italian cooking based on her heritage and experience. Her father was a first generation Italian immigrant who owned and cooked in his own restaurant in New York City. Her food was not fancy or critically acclaimed. But it was always delicious and often accompanied by a story or explanation. Tossed salad was always served with dinner and eaten after the main course. On the table were two glass decanters with stoppers, one with ruby red liquid, the other a distinct green-gold. Yes, red wine vinegar and olive oil. 

“Extra virgin olive oil is best for salads,” she explained, “because you are going to eat it and really taste it. Cooking oil (also olive oil and likely used for sautéing or frying) doesn’t have to be the same.” 

On the floor of her pantry was a large, rectangular, 3 liter container of extra virgin olive oil – used to fill the salad dressing decanter and whenever the olive oil should take center stage for its flavor. Long before a now famous television food personality first spoke the catch phrase, “EVOO,” Rita was well ahead of the trend.  

So how do you decide which is best?

Ever stand in front of the olive oil section at your local grocery store or specialty shop and wonder why you have such a range of choices? What's the difference? Why is it EVOO - is extra virgin olive oil never touched by human hands? Why the range in price and will anyone ever notice the difference once it's mixed with other ingredients?

The short answer is - yes, different olive oils have varying tastes, extra virgin means the process used to make the olive oil does not involve any heat or chemicals, the price is partly correlated to the way the olive oil is made and the classification the end product has (as well as the quality of olives). 

For more details about the different olive oils - Click here.

Haven't been using olive oil for anything other than salad dressing? Try replacing butter or margarine with olive oil. The taste is a bit fuller and brighter, a little goes a long way and it is a bit better for you. 

Drizzle a spoonful of olive oil over cooked pasta and toss to coat evenly to keep it from clumping together. It's also a great base for scampi or add a bit of garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste for a complete dish. This technique is not recommended when using a thick or heavy sauce (like vodka sauce) that you want to cling to the pasta.

My mother-in-law is 91 and continues to share her opinions on important matters like olive oil, the need for cutlets to be pounded "real thin," a preference for Manhattan clam chowder over New England, who the Jets should have gotten in the last draft, politics, and if drinking dark colas really has any impact on the formation of kidney stones. 

Yes, I do have a large, rectangular container of EVOO on the floor of my pantry. I don't necessarily fill the glass decanter with it but my younger son does maintain a squeeze bottle of it for easy dispensing for cooking. We do what we need to do to feel and be Fed Well including handing down our food traditions.