Kay and I are taking a vacation to Italy this fall, to the heart of Tuscany, and so I got to thinking about olive oil. I know I like it, whether with balsamic vinegar to dip bread into or to stir-fry vegetables, it just makes things taste good. I also know it is one of the key ingredients in one of the few diets actually associated with less cardiovascular disease, the Mediterranean Diet. I look forward to sampling lots of local varieties on our trip. I have to admit at this point I know next to nothing about how to pick a good olive oil. I tried to research what labels like virgin and extra virgin actually mean. It turns out that right now there are no regulations in the US to guide us in using these terms. Most of the rest of the world uses definitions of the IOOC (international olive oil commission) but not the US. That will change in October when new regulations by the USDA take place. Check out this Washington Post article on the upcoming regulations, and look for a post on my return from Italy in late September telling you about my tasting experiences.
Is that right? What is ‘extra-virgin’ olive oil?
Originally published in The Washington Post 6-11-2010 by Jennifer LaRue Huget in The Checkup
That expensive bottle of olive oil labeled “extra-virgin” must be really good stuff, worth every penny, right?
Maybe, maybe not. There’s no way of knowing what that term, or others on olive-oil containers, really mean. Read more