After getting known to the interesting way of olive oil production, this time we will read about the exciting oil tasting and different oil categories.
Honestly, when I hear about oil tasting I always feel sligthly nauseous… I mean… Seriously, sipping oil from a glass and smelling and twisting and murmuring different tastes like nutty and fruity and such things as if you were just enjoying a glass of wine…?
Well, exactly.
As vines, olives also have varieties, which obviously has an infuence on the oil. Similary to the weather conditions, the terroir, cultivation method and so on… The variation in olive oils almost as big as the one of the wines… It’s high time to get to know to it 😉
First about the varieties… The number of olive varieties is limitless and the use of them varies from region to region. Commonly used varieties are for example the Kalamata, Kolovi (Greece), Cobrancosa (Portugal), Hojiblanca, Lechin de Sevilla (Spain), Leccino, Coratina, Biancolilla (Italy) just to mention a few, but I really wouldn’t start here listing all of them… Just a few to get a short view 🙂 Some pics coming here (Coratina, Kalamata, Hojiblanca):
Obviously the varieties have special cultivation and consumption carasteristics for example their taste tipical features… Kalamata usually has fruity, Barouni has fruity-bitter, Nicoise has nutty taste and so on. And (maybe you already expected) the oil-food matching is also important. The oil of the Nicoise is “synonymus with the cousine of southern France”, the Amphissa, the “other Greek black olive” is recommended to be eaten with meat stews and red sauce. Of course, many of the oils are not “pure”, so are made not only of one variety, but they are sort of “cuvées”.
To classify the oils based on their quality, there are different therms which help us distinguish them. The charasteristics of these categories (e.g. fatty acid, oleic acid, peroxide etc. content) are fixed, so the denominations are not subjective, but they have to fulfill certain criteria.
The best category is Ultra Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Virgin Olive Oil, Ordinary Virgin Olive Oil, Lampanate Oil…
There are different categories too, not fitting this classification, for instance Unfiltered Olive Oil, Early Harvest Olive Oil, Organic Olive Oil, Hand Picked and so on. (Longer description under the above link.)
So one more thing… The famous tasting!
How do we do it?
1. Pour a little oil to a glass (preferably use one similar to a wine glass)
2. Hold the glass in your hand to warm it up a little but, so the aroma releases.
3. First inhale deeply from the top of the glass. You can describe your first impressions, you can even write them down if you wish you do so.
4. Sip a little bit of oil together with some air. (It must make a not-too-nice noise…)
5. And the last- swallow. At least some of the oil… No matter how bad it sounds, it’s necessary to feel the creaminess and some tastes in your throat.
To facilitate the imagination watch this video here (check how he warms the oil, it’s really interesting):
So what tastes can you feel in the oil? The pleasent ones are apple, artichoke, almond, banana, bitter taste, nutty taste, floral or fruity taste and so on. The unpleasant tastes are blue cheese, bacon, cucumber , greasy, metalic, sour milk taste and so on. Find the complete list here.
So slowly we are coming to the end… I hope you enjoyed this post and next time you go the supermarket check out their offer! (I can’t wait to do it myself 😉 .) And if you ever have the opportunity to participate in an olive oil tasting event, please tell me about your experiences… For me the whole topic is truly amusing, so feel free to share the information & enthusiasm & horticulture!
L.
Passion in Food and Field 
