Choose the Best Olive Oils

The authentic, real, olive oil is made only from cold pressed olives. No other oil is added. You can tell it's a good olive oil by its bright green color and the flavor described as grassy and flowery. There is a huge variation in taste and looks since there are something like 190 olive varieties around the world. The acidity level is not actually an indication of its flavor or how smooth the oil will taste. It's related to the condition of the olives used to produce the oil.

If you're consuming it raw you should look for the "Extra Virgin Olive Oil" designation. That indicates a type of quality olive oil. The acidity of "Extra Virgin" is under 0,8%. Pure olive oils just have the "Extra Virgin" or "Virgin" varieties. The latter has an acidity bellow 2% and is used usually to cook. It's also consumed raw with certain specific foods. If you see other commercial designations avoid that bottle.

The estate where the oil is manufactured is important and an excellent indication of the quality of the product if you know a bit about the estate and its history. If you live in a place where olive oil has an established tradition, the country estates that manufacture the brands are well known. That means that you can reach for someone in those countries and ask. You don't need to go there. The internet serves you well in that regard.

Protected Designation of Origin

Some governments issue a quality seal attesting the origin and/or methods of making the oil. Look in the bottle. It's quite frequent to find the labels with English translation. You can find olive oils with protected designation of origin, the organic agriculture olive oils (the label may have BIO printed in it to indicate this) and the mono-culture olive oils.

The protected designation of origin oils originate in a very well defined geographical area, with characteristic soils and climate and are exclusively made with olives from certain varieties of olive trees. These factors, combined with the region's traditional know-how, which is reflected in the way trees are managed, olive harvesting and olive oil extraction, give them typicality and qualitative characteristics that allow them to be distinguished from the others.

Organic

The organic farming (or biological) oil comes from olive groves conducted in accordance with the organic production method, as provided by European Regulation. This method of production requires several important constraints, namely the maintenance of the soil fertilization fund, the use of adequate rotations and respect for very strict sanitary and fertilization standards, with the use of synthetic chemicals being practically prohibited.

Organic agriculture has been gaining traction in the last decade. The area of organic farmland increased all over the world, while consumers keep asking for more organic products.

In 2017, 8.3 percent of the earth’s olive groves were under organic production.

According to the 2019 edition of "The World of Organic Agriculture" report, launched on February 13, 2019 at BIOFACH in Nürnberg, Germany, iIn 2017, 8.3 percent of the all olive groves were organically produced.

Mono varietal oils are obtained from a single variety of olives (duh!)

If quality is paramount to you, try and get your olive oil from a country with renowned makers or where there is an old and very strong culture around olive: Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Tunisia and Morocco. In those countries you can find marvelous olive oils, the best in the world. Apart from these olive "superpowers" you have new players, such as France and California, who are willing to contribute to this ancient industry with quality olive oils.

Try light and low acidity oils first before venturing into the discovery of other olive oils. These are more smooth and neutral and are excellent to start if you're not used to olive oil.