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Taste!

Make sure the dates are fresh.

Research oils online.

Buy any olive oil from Sciabica if you ever see it.

I haven't read the article yet, but heard the NPR story earlier this week and thought it was interesting that taste tests are more reliable than chemical tests. I was worried to hear that hazelnut oil is sometimes mixed in, as I am allergic to hazelnuts.

If you buy California olive oil, you can look for the certified extra virgin label.

Olive oil fraud is a time-honored tradition. Mark Twain wrote about it in Life on the Mississippi in 1883:

"'One of 'm's from Europe, the other's never been out of this country. One's European olive-oil, the other's American cotton-seed olive-oil. Tell 'm apart? 'Course you can't. Nobody can. People that want to, can go to the expense and trouble of shipping their oils to Europe and back-- it's their privilege; but our firm knows a trick worth six of that. ...You see, there's just one little wee speck, essence, or whatever it is, in a gallon of cotton-seed oil, that give it a smell, or a flavor, or something--get that out, and you're all right--perfectly easy then to turn the oil into any kind of oil you want to, and there ain't anybody that can detect the true from the false. Well, we know how to get that one little particle out--and we're the only firm that does.'"

The whole chapter is here: http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-lifemississippi-39.htm?terms=coffin boxes

PS, most Italian olive oil exported to the US is not, in fact, Italian but, Spanish and Greek. Italy does not produce sufficient oil for local consumption, let alone export. So the Italian houses import it from elsewhere, blend it and, exported under their label.
Real Italian olive oil comes in very small jars or canisters and is quite $$. One reason for the small size is that oil can oxidize once opened and the flavor, which is what you pay dearly for, changes. A small bottle will be used faster and be less likely to spoil.

Julie,

Thanks for that little piece of food history. That's so cool! Olive oil on the Mississippi in the 1800's, who knew?

I agree it's probably better to buy evo in half liter bottles if you don't do a lot of cooking. Keep them in a cool dark place. Not on top of the stove!!! It will go rancid. Do not buy anything labeled "pomace" or just plain "olive oil." These are blends of who knows what. They don't taste good.

Look for "cold pressed," or "extra virgin." Then the ingredients should read, "ingredients: extra virgin olive oil," that's it, nothing else.

If you are going to use olive oil for sauteeing and cooking, try to find an extra-virgin olive oil blended with canola oil. The rich flavor elements of evo will be lost if used for high heat cooking.

I get my green gold from O&Co. on Bleeker St., across the street from Murry's Cheese. You can taste the oil before you buy it, and I have always been pleased with what I have gotten.

I avoid the supermarket stuff and only get olive oil from the farmer's market here in SF - Sciabica if they have their tent up that week, or Mcevoy or Stonehouse from their permanent stall in the Ferry Building.

I get mine at the health food store, where you refill glass bottles from the metal tank. (And it's good.) They do balsamic vinegar that way, too.

Yeesh, I never even considered that somebody could be ripping me off; given all the sauteeing of vegetables I do in olive oil, that's embarrassing. Thanks for the information!

I agree, Sciabica's is always awesome olive oil. Their flavored ones are incredible. I'm fortunate to live in the same town as them, and am able to buy it straight from the owner at the farmer's market.

Hi,

I just stumbled upon this page. Having grown up consuming olive oil in every meal, and having a mother for an olive oil expert (literally), I want to add just one thing.

One of the things that helps identify a good quality olive oil, is its acidity. In general, the lower the acidity, the better it is. In some countries, only olive oil with acidity less than one (indicating very low acidity, it is in a sense inverse to pH) can be labeled "extra virgin". However, you cannot find any info on the olive oil bottles in the United States, even if the oil is imported from Europe.

So, I cannot be sure, even if it says "extra virgin " on the label, that it is really what it claims to be. I suspect most are blended with high acidity oil.

Oil is greener when young, so if it is freshly pressed, good quality oil, it will be younger than pil that has been on the shelf for a few months.