Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil

by Tom Mueller

Much olive oil is doctored with cheaper olive oil. What's the story behind that? 

• Most people can't really tell the difference between high and low quality oil. Great olive oil can have a bitter & peppery test that turns many people off.
• Of all the oil produced by great olives, half is low quality (useful for soaps and lubrications) a third is good for frying after its been deodorized.  Only the rest is good enough to be high quality extra virgin olive oil.
• Unlike cheap wine, most cheap oils are perfectly usable and just taste neutral.
• Great olive oil is best fresh. To sell high quality oil year around, manufacturers have to chase the olive harvest in different parts of the world, then blend as necessary to achieve a consistent test for there customers.

All by way of saying, if a little cheaper, neutral testing oil was snuck into the olive oil blend at some point, the consumer would never notice, and would probably appreciate the cheaper price.