Saturday, August 24, 2013

Did you say Olive Oil?

My wife is picky when it comes to Olive Oil. Me, as long as I can eat it, I am good. But for whatever reason after a huge debate with my wife. I had to find out some things about olive oil and start paying attention to taste.
I am cheap!! I have to be, I am on a 1-year plan that has cut out all and every fun thing imaginable for us to gain a new home in our future. But there are what we call luxuries that we do have that we've squeezed in so we wouldn't have to suffer. Oil is one of them. And cheese (another topic on that later and one that the Irish win)

So the lesson I learned from my wife is this:
Take homemade bread and dip into olive oil. That's the best way to taste test olive oils. And so I did this. And there are not many that are bad, but there is a taste difference in them. My wife adds Italian spices to a small bowl of olive oil each and every time I make my own bread. Its beyond good.

Are all extra virgin olive oils the same?No. Like wines, extra virgin olive oils can vary dramatically in taste, depending upon the type and quality of the fruit that is pressed, the time of harvest, the weather during the growing season, and the region from which the olives were produced.

Connoisseurs generally use the following adjectives in appraising extra virgin olive oils: mild, semi-fruity and fruity, depending on the flavor of the olive that can be detected. Further, some oils, such as the finer oils from Tuscany and Southern Italy, have a peppery finish that many appreciate.

How to Determine Whether an Olive Oil is Extra-Virgin?

Place a small quantity of the oil in a glass bowl and refrigerate it for a few days.
If it becomes crystalline, the chances are good that it is a true extra-virgin olive oil.
If it forms a block, it is most likely chemically refined oil that has had some first-pressed oil added to it.

And the WINNER is in our HOME