How to Find the Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 5 Simple Checks

Hello, I am George. I grow olives in Tourloti, a small village near Sitia in the east of Crete. Every year people ask me the same question: "George, how do I know if an olive oil is really good?"

It is a fair question. The supermarket shelf is full of bottles that all say "extra virgin". Many have nice labels, a photo of an old tree, maybe a grandmother. But the label does not tell you everything. So here are the things I check myself when I look at an olive oil that is not mine.

Olive oil is a fresh product. It is juice from a fruit. It is best in the first months after the harvest and then slowly it loses its flavour and its good things.

In Crete we harvest from October to December. So the oil you buy in winter or spring should come from the last harvest, not from two years ago.

Look on the bottle or can for the harvest year. Good producers are proud to write it. If you cannot find any harvest information and the best before date is very far away, ask yourself why.

Organic, or "bio", means the olives were grown without chemical pesticides and fertilisers, and a certification body checks the farm every year. It is not a word the producer can just decide to print. You should see the EU organic logo and a code of the certifier.

PDO is even more interesting. It means Protected Designation of Origin. A PDO oil must come from olives grown in one defined region, and it must follow the rules of that region. So it is not a mix of oils from different countries or different places. You know where it comes from.

Our oil is PDO Sitia Lasithiou Kritis. That means the olives are from the Sitia area, and this is checked. When you see organic and PDO together, you already removed most of the doubt.

This one is very important and not many people do it.

There are many beautiful olive oil brands. Some of them are real farmers. But some of them only buy oil in bulk from somewhere, put it in a nice bottle and build a story around it. There is nothing illegal about this. But then you do not really know what you are getting, and it can change from one year to the next.

So take five minutes and search:

• Is there a real person behind it?

• Can you see the trees, the harvest, the mill?

• Is there an address, a village, a name?

• Do they talk about the harvest every year, the good years and the bad years?

A farmer will usually show you the work, because the work is his life. If all you find is nice photos and marketing words, be a little careful.

This sounds small, but it is not.

The best before date and the lot number should be printed on the can or bottle by a machine at the moment of filling. You can see it is printed, not added later.

If the date is written by hand, or on a sticker that looks like it was put on later, be careful. Unfortunately some sellers change the date on old oil to sell it as new. A printed date is much harder to change.

On our cans the best before date and the lot number are stamped at the filling. This is also a rule for PDO oil, so the oil can be traced back.

This is my favourite check, because your mouth does not lie.

Put a little oil on a spoon, or taste it plain with a piece of bread. Good fresh extra virgin olive oil:

• Smells fresh. Like cut grass, green olive, green tomato or fresh leaves.

• Has flavour. It is not flat. It does not taste like water or like nothing.

• Is a little bitter. This is good. It comes from fresh green olives.

• Is a little spicy in the throat. Sometimes it even makes you cough a bit. This small pepper feeling comes from the natural polyphenols. These are the healthy parts of the oil, and they are strongest when the oil is fresh.

If the oil smells like old nuts, wax, crayons or vinegar, or if it has almost no taste, it is old or it was not made well. Even if the label says "extra virgin".

One more small thing: light is the enemy

Olive oil does not like light and heat. Clear glass bottles on a bright shelf are not good for it. Choose a tin can or dark glass, and at home keep it in a cupboard, away from the stove. Close the cap after you use it.

Make sure it all adds up

In the end, no single thing proves an oil is good. But when you put everything together, you get a clear picture:

• Oil from the latest harvest

• Organic, and ideally PDO

• A real producer you can find

• A printed best before date and lot number

• A fresh, green smell and a little bitter, spicy taste

When all of this adds up, you have very good chances that you found a real extra virgin olive oil. If something does not fit, trust that feeling and ask questions. A real producer will be happy to answer.

And if you ever want to ask me something about olive oil, you can write to me any time. Also if you do not buy from us, it's ok, I like talking about olives.

Regards,
George