Have you ever met a gorgeous guy in a perfectly tailored Italian suit with a dubious background? Well, fraudulent olive oil falls into that same too-good-to-be-true category. I recently attended a very informative olive oil tasting hosted by the
Italian Trade Commission and
UNAPROL (the largest Italian olive growers association) and learned some great tips on making sure that the extra virgin olive oil I purchase is truly made in Italy.
More people are incorporating extra virgin olive oil into their meals - not only for the delicious taste but also for the
health benefits - it is chock full of good fats that the body needs. However, when buying olive oil, you can't just judge the bottle by the front
label - the back label holds important information about the origins of
the olives used to produce the oil. Believe it or not, some manufacturers intentionally mislead consumers
into believing that the oil within the bottle is 100% Italian when it actually contains a blend of olives from different countries. Blended oils are perfectly good (most of the time) but not if they are being misrepresented as 100% Italian. Many countries, including the USA, produce excellent olive oil, but many consumers veer towards Italian olive oil because it has a world-wide reputation for excellence. At my local supermarket, I often see large bottles of olive oil available for sale at ridiculously low prices. The bottles will have an Italian sounding name and a beautifully designed label but, lo and behold, turn the label over and you will often see that the oil is a blend - some really brazen bottles may not have a single drop of juice from an Italian olive!
Guglielmi Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Puglia is the real deal!
I love trying oils from different countries but consumers have the right to know what they are buying. Read your labels carefully and train your palate to identify bad oil - it will make it that much easier to identify high quality extra virgin Italian olive oil by taste. You can even try this little experiment at home: buy some bottles of authentic Italian extra virgin olive oil like
Olio Guglielmi, Paladino,
Redoro, and
Trevi Il Frantoio and compare their flavor with one of the cheap blends. Believe me, your tastebuds will know the difference.
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