The selection of olive oil is huge. However, not everything that glitters on the shelves as top quality is gold. Experts explain what is important when it comes to olive oil and how it refines dishes.
Conrad Bölicke wants to get olive oil out of the "fat corner". "We tend to compare the extraction of the oil with the art of the winemaker," says the founder of the olive oil campaign arteFakt from Wilstedt in Lower Saxony. For the olive oil taster and author Michaela Bogner from Munich, the oil has never been as good as it is today. When buying, however, many feel overwhelmed.
The selection is huge and the term "extra virgin" is inflationary on almost all bottles. So what should you look out for when shopping?
Unfortunately, the quality cannot be recognized either by the label or by the price, say the experts alike. Top quality can only be recognized by smell and taste.
According to an EU regulation, olive oil is divided into different quality classes. The highest level "extra virgin" should be reserved for oils that smell and taste perfect and have a minimum of fruitiness. In addition, there is "virgin olive oil" with slight off notes and "olive oil".
The latter is a blend of sensorially highly defective oil that needs to be refined, with a small proportion of virgin oil. Refining makes the oil tasteless, but it loses its nutritionally valuable bioactive substances. "Native" stands for extraction using exclusively mechanical processes and without heat treatment.
Experts criticize that the largest area of extra virgin olive oil is fraudulent labeling these days. "The EU olive regulation is from the 1990s and has very industry-friendly chemical-analytical values," says Bogner, author of the book "SuperOlio". Conrad Bölicke also complains that many of the limit values are too lax. An olive oil that has more than 0.4 percent free fatty acids is never free from off-flavors. However, the law allows up to 0.8 percent for the top class.
A new generation of producers are processing regionally typical olives with innovative oil mill technology into highly aromatic oils, says Michaela Bogner. In Italy alone there are 540 long-established varieties of olives, but oil is only extracted from 100.
The expert is an advocate of a new olive oil category, which she - like her book - calls "SuperOlio": "Today, oils from top producers are in the same product category as those from industrial bottlers. But these oils are worlds apart, which the consumer on the label does not can see. That's a big problem."
As with wine, you need a whole range of reliable information, right down to the individual producer, the locations and the olive varieties, says Conrad Bölicke. And you should know important things about the oil. It's mostly a fruit oil, not a kernel or seed oil, he explains.
In addition to polyunsaturated fatty acids in the olive stone, olives convert fructose into monounsaturated fatty acids during the ripening process. Especially the latter with polyphenols and vitamin E are the reason why olive oil is considered healthy.
In order to be able to recognize quality, an accompanied tasting is recommended for beginners. You sharpen your sense of smell and taste and learn how flawless, pure olive oil actually smells and tastes.
At the beginning of their online tastings, Jörn Gutowski from Try Foods in Berlin and Michaela Bogner point out that slurping is encouraged! After smelling, draw a small sip into your mouth with plenty of oxygen. This creates a slurping, smacking noise. Do not be alarmed when swallowing when bitter notes and peppery spiciness spread in the mouth and throat.
Like wine, fruit oil is about aroma. Good olive oil should have herbal green notes ranging from grass to wild herbs to tomato and taste fresh. Anything that doesn't smell fresh and plant-based is off-flavor. They are forbidden for extra virgin oils.
When tasting, pungency and bitter notes develop in the oral cavity, throat and throat, from subtle and fleeting to strong and long-lasting. This depends on the olive variety, the cultivation area, the time of harvest and the processing technology in the ultra-modern mills. Grinding stones are a thing of the past.
Professionals rate the intensity of the oil in the categories of fruit, bitterness and pungency. "The rule of thumb is: the higher the content of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory polyphenols in olive oil, the sharper and more bitter the taste," says Bogner. Such intensely fruity olive oils usually take some getting used to, especially for beginners.
Monovarietal olive oils best express the characteristics of an olive variety and its terroir, i.e. the entire natural environment. Some oils are also available as blends. For this purpose, mostly olives of different varieties are harvested at the same time and processed in the oil mill. Bogner: "It is more ideal to first produce single-variety oils, i.e. to observe the optimal harvest time for each individual olive variety, and then to create a blend."
The myth persists that only refined olive oil can be heated. The experts unanimously emphasize that this is simply wrong. Conrad Bölicke explains: Due to the high heat stability of its monounsaturated fatty acids, you can cook, roast, fry or bake with olive oil without hesitation. Regardless of whether it is a refined, virgin or extra virgin oil. The smoke point of olive oil is around 210 degrees Celsius.
However, the high price of high-quality olive oils and the loss of fine aromas speak against this. The flavor and aroma of these drops are at their best when mixed in or drizzled over a dish just before serving. "When the oil is heated, the aromas evaporate. The pungent and bitter taste components also subside," says Michaela Bogner.
When cooking, professionals choose their olive oil to match the intensity of the dish. An intensely fruity oil goes well with lentil or bean stew, grilled steak or hearty stews such as Bolognese sauce. Conrad Bölicke uses it to dress his Greek salad made from feta, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Or he marinates a fennel carpaccio with the hearty, aromatic oil.
Medium-fruity oils are a must for grilled food, be it fish, seafood or vegetables. Mildly fruity drops, on the other hand, increase the aromas and flavors of gently cooked fish or chicken and refine the dressing for delicate leaf salads.
Michaela Bogner uses the strong bitter notes of intensely fruity olive oils to balance the sweetness or richness of a dish. "Oils like this work great over creamy burrata with fresh figs, over vanilla ice cream, basil sorbet, or over very starchy dishes like fave bean mashed potatoes," she says.
The Berlin cookbook author Rose Marie Donhauser loves "totally simple pleasures that captivate in their simplicity". She dips white bread or flatbread in olive oil and then dips it lavishly in one of her favorite spices: zatar. "This spice blend is made with wild thyme, sumac, toasted sesame seeds, and salt."
Since she loves to eat salad and vegetables, she flavors olive oil with orange or lemon zest, garlic and rosemary to have a choice depending on your taste. Another tip: Slice the apple or pear into wafer-thin slices, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Parmesan flakes, season with sea salt and pepper. Serve with ciabatta and a glass of wine.
