EVOO: choosing your best Extra Virgin Olive Oil

By Eduardo Sabate

Olive oil is the most important ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine, and a core ingredient in Middle Eastern food. For thousands of years, the tiny olive has shaped not only diet, but also mythology, religion, healthcare, economy, and many other aspects of the different human cultures that surround the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. The earliest evidence of an olive tree’s existence is in the form of a fossilized leaf. Although records of cultivated olives only go back around 6,000 years, olive trees have grown wild in ancient forests that surround the Mediterranean Sea, making the olive one of the oldest plants to exist in the Mediterranean basin. The Olive tree of Vouves, in Crete, is said to be at least 2,000 years old, and as much as 4,000 years old by some researchers. Many of the olive oil producers in Europe can boast of having trees that are only a couple of hundred years old.

Most people here in Canada associate olive oil with Italy, Spain or Greece. They are the top three producers, with Spain producing around 40% of the world’s olive oil, Italy around 10%, Greece 8%, and the rest coming from Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Croatia, Syria, other parts of Europe and the Middle East, and more recently, the Americas, Australia, China and even Japan. So, who makes the best olive oil? Although the traditional producers will always yield high quality olive oil, countries outside Europe are making their mark in international competitions. So many olive mills in so many countries producing delicious quality olive oil. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, look at the positive side: it is easier now more than ever to find an excellent quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) that suits your taste.

Taste should be your primary factor when choosing an EVOO. Aroma always accompany a delicious EVOO. What’s the point of buying a proper bottle of olive oil if you’re not going to enjoy it? If you’re not familiar with the taste of a good olive oil, many specialty shops give free tastings of their quality EVOO. Even the cheapest real EVOO will give you complexities of aroma and flavour, and also health benefits. So, if you can taste the oil, all the better. You might know the descriptives: fruity, bitter, grassy and peppery. There are many more:  artichokes, kiwi, green tomato, plum, guava, pine nuts, almonds, black pepper, white pepper, vanilla, basil, butter are just a sample of flavours that could be present in a fresh bottle of EVOO. A greener olive will produce more bitterness, and that’s what a particular region might prefer. Other regions may prefer a  more mature olive which results in a fruitier taste. One label may have estate-grown olives that produce a full-bodied peppery, herbaceous EVOO. Another label may prefer to let the same olive varietal mature for another week to encourage a different flavour to come out. Five brands of EVOO using the same olive varietal could have very different flavour profiles, yet all delicious. Due to its adaptability, the Arbequina olive, for example, is grown in its native Spain, all around Europe, North Africa, Australia, the USA and South America. The more olive oils you taste, the better you’ll experience the myriad of possible flavours.

Judge an olive oil by its label. When acquiring your next bottle of EVOO, even before tasting it, there are a few things to consider to make choosing a little easier. The label is your first and most accessible reference. Know what information should be on the label, and recognize that other words are probably just flowery distractions. With a simple check list, you’ll notice that a huge shelf full of many different olive oil brands has only a small number of decent EVOOs for you to choose from.  

Organoleptics is a term that is thrown around quite a lot these days. For experts, organoleptic qualities are the sensory characteristics of a food item that can be assessed to determine quality. In simple language, for EVOO, it’s the taste, odour, and even feel of the oil. To ensure that you are getting the best organoleptic qualities, an EVOO producer has to ensure the olive fruit is in its best form, the fruit and the oil have been handled properly, and the olives used are as fresh and as undamaged as possible.  As a regular consumer, make sure that a minimum of three pieces of information appear on the EVOO label: the words "extra virgin olive oil", where it was produced and when the olives were harvested.

"Extra virgin olive oil" on the label, check. Identifying this on the bottle is step one to finding the best quality olive oil. For registered producers to use the term "extra virgin" to describe their olive oil, they must follow strict standards set by international councils and associations that regulate olive oils in the world. The International Olive Council (IOC) is the largest regulatory body with 19 member states, one member being the European Union. Over 90% of olive production in the world is regulated by the IOC. Further, each olive oil producing country has its own association, including Spain, Italy and Greece. The USA and Australia are not members of the IOC, but they have their own regulatory bodies with strict standards. So, if you’re getting your olive oil at a proper shop or even supermarket and it clearly says that it’s extra virgin olive oil, it has passed a number of strict standards, including free fatty acid (FFA) levels lower than 0.8%, extraction temperatures that don’t exceed 27°C, optimal amount of polyphenols (bioactive compounds that promote or improve how our body runs), and no defects found when it was tested.

Product of [country name], check. Do not be swayed by labels adorned with pastoral images of Italian landscapes with pretty maidens unless the bottle clearly says "Product of Italy". In all the industries, Product of ___ indicates that all ingredients are sourced in that country. So, an EVOO labelled "Product of Spain" uses only olives grown in Spain. "Imported from Spain" only means that the oil left Spain to come to Canada. The producer could have sourced their olive oils from other countries, making quality control much more complicated. Ignore descriptions such as "Italian Blend". Often, you’ll see in small print that the blend may contain olives or olive oil from various other countries. The best EVOO will always have the simplest sourcing. A single varietal olive EVOO, Product of Spain, is easier to quality control than a premium EVOO from a Greek company with "Made in Italy" on the label. It might still be good, but it's doubtful that it’s a premium product.

Traceability has been an important subject in the olive oil industry in the last ten or so years.  Producers must keep clear records of where a product comes from and where it has been.  Due to rampant fraud in the past, laws have been put into place so that every step of olive oil production can be traced: from which farm the olive was grown to how the finished bottle of EVOO reached Canada. Greater transparency and fair practice, with the help of advanced technology, mean fewer fraudulent players, which means better olive oils on the market. Just as important as where it comes from is when it was harvested. Olives are fruits, and freshness counts.

Harvest date, check. When the olive was picked for oil production can be found right in the bottle, or on the company website. Properly stored, unopened bottles will only be at their best for only up to two, maybe three, years after harvest. Longer than that, the olive oil starts to lose its potency. Make sure the EVOO you get is from the most recent years you can find. European growers will normally show two years, like 2023/2024 harvest. Greece’s last harvest season, for example, was from October 2023  to January 2024. A bottling date is also good to see, especially if it’s paired with the harvest date. Best before dates can be a bit arbitrary, and not easily regulated. Each grower will have different optimum times of harvest determined by location, altitude, microclimates, etc. Within the harvest season, an olive grower will have their own very detailed schedule when a grove is harvested, which olive varietal gets picked first, what stage of maturity this olive is perfect for a particular blend, and even when during the day the ideal hour to start harvesting is. Different growing areas will produce different complexities of tastes. The earlier you get your hands on a fresh bottle of EVOO, the more likely you will taste that oil at its best.

One other unavoidable consideration is the price of the bottle. Unfortunately, price matters. EVOO isn’t cheap to produce. For every 100 kilograms of olives, only about 15 litres of oil is extracted. Not all extractions are good enough to be graded as extra virgin olive oil. It’s a precise process requiring costly equipment, and the best olive oil can degrade quite fast when badly handled before or during processing, or afterwards in storage or during transportation. Weather, disease, supply and demand, transportation costs, commodity market fluctuations and other factors determine the price of a simple bottle of olive oil. Beware of the 500 ml bottle of olive oil for just $10. A decent bottle goes from $20 and up. If you’re hesitant to spend $25 on a 500 ml EVOO even when it checks all the boxes, many companies produce smaller bottles. After enjoying that bottle, you’re sure to be less hesitant to buy a larger format of the real thing.

"Extra virgin olive oil", "Product of [___]", harvest date; check, check and check. Together, they guarantee the minimum requirements of a real bottle of EVOO. Of the 20 labels of oils on the store shelf, there may only be five authentic EVOOs. Other useful information? Details such as what type of olive, flavour profile and production certification (PDO/DOP, PGI/IGP, organic, environmental standards, etc.) are added bonuses indicating the EVOO's quality.  With real EVOO, a little goes a long way. When you’ve guaranteed that you've purchased the best EVOO for you, the only thing left to do is enjoy all its beautiful flavours and aroma.