In article dth>,
"The Ranger" > wrote:

> gloria.p > wrote in message
> ...
> > The Ranger wrote:
>
> >> ObTopic: I currently have EVOOs from Spain, Greece,
> >> Italy and California. Each lends a different taste to the
> >> dishes I make. The Spanish EVOO is so fragrant that
> >> we only use it for dipping.
> >>
> > Does "fragrant" = strong flavored? I found a lot of locally pressed olive
> > oils in Spain and Portugal to be so strong flavored they were unpleasant.
>
> Not regarding this particular EVOO; fragrant means that you can smell a
> spice-like scent. To me, it lends a nice essence to dipping but the two
> times I added it to a cooking dish it overpowered it.
>
> Strong-flavored oils, in my VERY limited experience, have been dominated by
> the Greek entries. Some have been downright bitter and very unpleasant. I've
> not tried any from Portugal (yet) but I'm young and love a challenge. We
> have a local Portuguese community so finding one might be easier than
> finding a good port!
>
> The Ranger

Oils pressed from less ripe olives tend to have stronger aromas and
flavors. Also aging the oil makes some difference. I don't know about
Greece but Italy , Spain, and France all produced oils with a wide range
of flavors/aromas depending on all the usual suspects: variety,
ripeness, microclimate, cultural practices and so on. From a marketing
angle, I think the producers/packers of high priced oils like to use the
"greener" oils so their customers can talk about their favorite oils
using a lot of wacky descriptors just like a bunch of yuppie wine snobs.
How else can you charge 30 bucks for 8 ounces of cooking oil? (I guess
packaging it in perfume bottle helps.)

D.M.