We conducted an olive oil tasting at Foodies last week.  It was the first in a series we have scheduled as many students ask about specific ingredients and how to determine which ones they should use. 

We blind tested eight different olive oils ranging in price from .10 an ounce to 2.00 an ounce.   The task was to look for indicators such as floralness, herbaceousness, spiciness, greenness, nuttiness, bitterness and pungency.  To this end, we employed the 4 S’s: swirl, smell, slurp and swallow.  

A tasting sheet was provided for everyone to note the nuances they smelled and tasted in the oils.  They were then asked to rank them from favorite to least favorite.  It was a struggle for most to discern any notes or particular flavor components from the oils.   One commented that it was like tasting WD30 and the majority emphatically pronounced that they never wanted to taste olive oil again.   

The most surprising part of the test was that only one picked the most expensive oil as their favorite and one picked it as their second choice.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, only one of nine picked the ringer I tossed in (pomace oil as opposed to extra virgin) as their least favorite. 

We then made three margherita pizzas and three grilled romaine and cantaloupe salads utilizing the top three vote getters from the testing. Each participant had a serving of each on three plates showcasing the oils.  For the majority of the testers, this is where they could tell notable differences between the oils, especially in the salad dressing.  There were definite winners after oils were utilized in conjunction with other ingredients.  

The bottom line, at least for this group, is choose an oil you like.  Don’t rely on the notion of greenness, floralness or, especially price.  In some cases, at least with our testers, the most expensive wasn’t necessarily the preferred.  Experiment a bit and choose something that pleases your palette.  Try the oil you choose in applications where the oil isn’t heated like a salad dressing.  Use that same oil in a cake and see if you can tell a difference.  As with most ingredients, the properties changed when heat is applied. 

I made an olive oil cake to complete the meal utilizing an extra virgin olive oil which costs about .20 per ounce.  As the cake contained 12 ounces of oil, utilizing the 2.00 per ounce olive oil would make this an extraordinary cake:  not necessarily in terms of flavor but in terms of cost.  And the cake we ate was devoured by all.  It is very moist yet full of crumb.  Not too sweet but just enough sweetness to satisfy.   Recipe tomorrow so stay tuned.

We tasted these oils in our blind taste test:

Alessi                              Italy                                 .62 an ounce

Mediterraneo              Tuscany                           2.00 an ounce

Vita                                  Italy                                 .20 an ounce

Mediterraneo              Greece                              2.00 an ounce

Cento                              Italy                                  .49 an ounce

Olivera  (pomace)     Turkey                              .10 an ounce

Coluccio                        Italy                                  .59 an ounce

Columela                      Spain                                  .62 an ounce

We cooked with the Alessi, Coluccio and Columela.  Columela was the overall “winner” when tasted on the salad and pizza against the Alessi and Coluccio.