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Invest in Good Olive Oil for its Taste
Good quality olive oil comes in many flavour profiles, depending on factors such as olive variety, terroir, practices on the field and in the mill and others. It can be milder or more intense, can lift and brighten the flavour of almost any meal and has this amazing capacity to create an alchemy with other ingredients and often produces unexpected results in food pairings. Opus olive oil won 2 stars at Great Taste!
Invest in Good Olive Oil for its Health Benefits
In the world of culinary fats nothing is as beneficial as plantbased olive oil. Olive oil has been the backbone of the Mediterranean Diet, the healthiest diet worldwide, for millennia. Populations that grow olive trees and that consume antioxidant-rich olive oil as their main source of fat are healthier and live longer.
There is plenty of scientific evidence on how good quality olive oil can improve health and wellbeing. It is not a surprise that both under European and under US laws, the best quality olive oils are recognised as having quasi-nutritional-supplement status.
Investing in healthy food is a mark of priorities and knowledge. It's a matter of prioritising lifespan and healthspan. Opus olive oil has won awards in competitions focusing on health and science.
Invest in Good Olive Oil for Environmental and Social Consciousness
Olive groves absorb rather than release CO2 helping air quality. They further keep soil from eroding thereby preventing desertification. Olive groves, when cultivated with best agricultural practices, represent a richly biodiverse ecosystem which helps maintaining equilibrium in the environment as a whole.
Supporting small producers rather than buying from large corporates gives us all more choice and diversifies the options for consumers.
It can be tricky finding truly good olive oil amongst the many brands in the UK. Like with many other things good olive oil is not necessarily the most expensive olive oil you see advertised. Higher quality olive oil can sometimes be 40%-50+% less expensive than higher priced alternatives at lower qualities. If the people selling your oil do not hail from the country it comes from, by definition they are middlemen, who represent at least one extra layer of cost rather than a contribution.
Do not buy blends of oils from different countries, different olive varieties and different producers. They are the pre-cursor to adulteration and to blending-in things that shouldn't be there. You wouldn't buy wine that is a "blend of different countries of origin"? There is good reason for single variety being best!
Look for any disclosure on oleic aciditylevels on the label. While this is not the whole story of a good olive oil, it is an good indicator. Look for less than 0.4% acidity. If the label does not mention it, you can safely assume it is at the regulatory cut-off limit of 0.849%, so more than double that of a really good olive oil. When you are looking at published lab reports make sure they are for the bottle you are purchasing and not for a different producer, a different year and another product entirely.
Look for any disclosure on polyphenols levels. Ideally the measurement ought to be taken at the time of bottling, as the process of bottling alone erodes a proportion of the polyphenols levels and an earlier measurement overstates the real content.
Filtering olive oil costs money, but is not something to be skipped. It is a mechanical process (similar to filtering coffee grinds through a paper coffee filter) and not at all the same as refining oil by using chemicals. Naturally filtered olive oil: a) stays fresher and more nutritious for longer (it is the suspended solids that cause early oxidation of the oil) and b) has a higher smoke point than unfiltered (it is the solids that ignite and smoke first when heated) making it much more useful in cooking. Buy filtered, clean, properly made olive oil.
Do not buy olive oil in transparent containers. These do not adequately shield the oil from damaging UV light. Buy oils in protective special dark glass bottles. Ceramic bottles and pourers, while opaque, are porous (not good for oil) and difficult to clean if they are meant to be refilled. They very quickly become unhygienic.
Never buy oil packaged in plastic bottles or pouches. This always degrades the oil, never gets recycled - contrary to the claims - and fills you and the environment with microplastics. Tins, although much cheaper than glass, have composite coatings on the inside making recycling challenging. They dent easily causing degradation at their seams and require additional protective packaging, representing a materials burden.
Try to buy from farmers themselves whenever you can (provided they can offer you the information mentioned above) and avoid large corporates. There isn't enough good olive oil produced in the world to fulfil the supply needs of just one large corporate, this means they can never maintain a high standard.
Harvest dates are not relevant when you buy from farmers, as they are the first ones in the selling chain and always clear their vats to make room for the next harvest. You will only ever get the most recent harvest olive oil from the farmer, they have greater demand for their good olive oil than they can produce and never have reasons to hold on to old oil. Only when you buy from brands that are resellers and chains of intermediaries do you have to consider harvest dates, as resellers are often several steps further down the selling chain and don't only add on costs, but are often left with unsold older stock.
If you live in Europe, buy from EU countries where olive oil is produced subject to much stricter regulations and controls (including hygiene and disclosure regulations) than in other regions.
Look for reputable, well-recognised industry awards. They mean that the olive oil has passed the scrutiny of panels of industry experts. Make sure the awards are for the bottle you are purchasing and not somebody else's award for a different olive oil product.
Seek out specialist-guided olive oil tastings. This is fun, refines your knowledge and makes you better versed in this precious food.
Choose zero-airmiles oils, like our fine extra virgin Opus Oléa olive oil, for the sake of our environment and your pocket.
Don't just buy the marketing. Know what you buy and the nature of the seller you buy from. Follow our blogs and social media to be a confident consumer. Invest in our carefully made fine extra virgin olive oil.
