Vilco wrote:
Randy Johnson wrote:

Most Italian Olive Oil sold in the US is, indeed imported from Italy;
however, because there's so much demand for "Italian olive oil" the
Italians buy much of the oil from Spain and blend it.

Buy only DOP or IGT italian EVO oils and you'll get oil made with
all-italian olives.
A good one with a good quality/price ratio is from Farchioni, it's theyr
"Umbria DOP".

BTW - actually there's only one IGP EVO oil and it is Toscana IGP, the
others are either DOP or nothing, where nothing means oil made from turkish
or greek or whoknowswherefrom olives.

I've no idea what it is like in the US, but I just bought 5 litres of
Pugliese oil from the Brindisi hills. The oil must all be cold pressed,
must all be from olives grown in the Brindisi hills, must not be pressed
to produce more than 25% of the weight of the olives. I expect many
cooperatives are that strict. Certainly estate bottled oils would be,
because an estate could be wiped out by labeling bad oil as its own.

That said, I really don't care if there are Libyan olives in my daily
oil if it tastes good. I bought the Pugliese because it is absolutely
delicious, but I use two national brands, too, one all Italian and one
not stated. And then I received a gift of an oil from a smallholding,
which was grassy. I'm told that's because it takes them so long to pick
the olives and get them to the press.

Lest people decide this is snobbery, it isn't. Oil is so important to
us and our food that we are very chary about the choice. They ARE
different. The difference can be as wide as that between Chianti and
Champagne.

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